Magdalen Nabb Vita Nuova

Vita Nuova

Magdalen Nabb

Soho, Jul 2009, $13.00

ISBN: 9781569475874

In Florence twenty-five year old single mom Daniela Paoletti, is murdered in her family home. The chemistry graduate student's wealthy father, a nightclub owner, is in the hospital recovering from a stroke when his oldest daughter was shot. Her mom is worthless buried in an alcoholic haze while her sister Silvan is hysterical and incommunicado as she only caresses Daniela's necklace.

Prosecutor Fulvio De Vita demands a fast response from the police, but also insists he will handle sensitive questions of the family. Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia leads the investigation, but feels hampered by Fulvio's orders. However, crime reporter Nesti provides him with insight into the family including the fact that the nightclub ran a horde of Eastern Europe beauties as dancers and hookers and the mom was one of them. The Marshal begins to wonder if the Russian mafia killed the woman to warn her father to keep his mouth shut as they traffic in women from beyond the former Iron Curtain.

The Guarnaccia Italian police procedurals are constantly some of the best whodunits on the market. The latest one, VIA NUOVA is a super tale as the Marshal is hampered by the politician limiting who he can interview and what he can ask while the cop also knows how fast the prosecutor will deny to the media and public his interference if something goes wrong and take credit if something goes right; as Abu Ghraib taught us accountability is a one way street downward. Readers will appreciate this excellent investigative tale that pays personal homage to the author's greatness; as Magdalen Nabb past away last summer.

Harriet Klausner

Vita Nuova

Magdalen Nabb

Soho, Jun 2008, $24.00

ISBN: 1569474931

Just above Florence in her bedroom someone shoots and kills twenty-five years Daniela Paoletti. The victim is connected as the oldest daughter of an affluent Florentine nightclub owner. Marshal Guarnaccia puts aside his personal concern of life after the military to investigate the shooting homicide of the single mom PH.D candidate.

Guarnaccia quickly realizes there is no apparent motive for someone to shoot the woman six times in her tower bedroom and not target anyone else, but also concludes that Daniela's family has issues. Her father remains in the hospital recovering from a stroke and his wife appears in a state of perpetual intoxication. However, most unsettling to Marshal is talk of female trafficking from Eastern Europe into Italy.

This is a strong Italian police procedural that plays out on two levels. First there is the homicide investigation that leads the hero to an even bigger case haunting the world; the abduction and sale of females into slavery. Additionally a second subplot has Guarnaccia concerned with personal difficult decisions as he ponders if life is passing him by starting with his deep thinking about early retirement. The late Magdalen Nabb affirms why she has been consistently one of the best mystery writers of the past decade.

Harriet Klausner