Magdalen Nabb (16 January 1947 – 18 August 2007) was a British author, best known for the Marshal Guarnaccia

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

s. Born in

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, a village near Accrington in Lancashire as Magdalen Nuttal, she was educated at the Convent Grammar School,

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, before going on to art college in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where she studied arts and pottery, which she taught in an art school. In 1975 she moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in Italy with her son, Liam, even though she didn't speak Italian. There, she continued to work on pottery in Montelupo, a pottery town near Florence, and began writing. It was in Montelupo that she met the model for "Marshal Guarnaccia". Her first book, ''Death of an Englishman'', was first published in 1981. All her stories take place in Florence, which she describes as a "very secret city". She lived near enough to the

Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...

station at Pitti to stroll there regularly and have a chat with the marshal, who kept her up to date on crime in the city. She was admired by and became friends with the writer

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

. She also wrote the ''Josie Smith'' books for children and did occasional journalistic pieces for English, German and Italian papers. In 1991 she won the

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...

for ''Josie Smith and Eileen'', the second book in the series. Her final novel, ''Vita Nuova'' in the Marshal Guarnaccia series, was posthumously published in 2008. She died in Florence of a stroke, aged 60.

Books for adults

* ''The Prosecutor'', 1986, co-authored by Paolo Vagheggi * ''Cosimo'', 2004

Maresciallo Guarnaccia series

* ''Death of an Englishman'', 1981 * ''Death of a Dutchman'', 1982 * ''Death in Springtime'', 1983 * ''Death in Autumn'', 1985 * ''The Marshal and the Murderer'', 1987 * ''The Marshal and the Madwoman'', 1988 * ''The Marshal's Own Case'', 1990 * ''The Marshal Makes His Report'', 1991 * ''The Marshal at the Villa Torrini'', 1993 * ''The Monster of Florence'', 1996 * ''Property of Blood'', 1999 * ''Some Bitter Taste'', 2002 * ''The Innocent'', 2005 * ''Vita Nuova'', 2008

Books for children

* ''The Enchanted Horse'' (Illustrated by Julek Heller), 1993 * ''Twilight Ghost'', 2000

Josie Smith series

* ''Josie Smith'', 1989 * ''Josie Smith and Eileen'', 1991, won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize * ''Josie Smith at Christmas'', 1992 * ''Josie Smith at the Seaside'', 1993 * ''Josie Smith at School'', 1994 * ''Josie Smith in Hospital'', 1995 * ''Josie Smith at the Market'', 1996 * ''Josie Smith in Summer'', 1997 * ''Josie Smith in Winter'', 1998 * ''Josie Smith in Spring'', 1999 * ''Josie Smith in Autumn'', 2000

Books for adults

Maresciallo Guarnaccia series

Books for children

Josie Smith series

References

External links