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Marshal Guarnaccia Books in Order

Part ofMagdalen Nabb Books in Order

See the Marshal Guarnaccia books by Magdalen Nabb in order, with summaries, series background, and practical guidance on where to begin.

Last updated: July 14, 2026

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Marshal Guarnaccia books in publication order

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14 books

1

Death of a Dutchman

by Magdalen Nabb

1981

Called to investigate noises in an empty flat, Marshal Guarnaccia finds a dying Dutch jeweler. It looks like suicide, yet the man's return to his childhood home raises troubling questions about murder.

2

Death of an Englishman

by Magdalen Nabb

1981

Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia hopes to leave Florence for a Sicilian Christmas, but an English retiree is shot dead. With outside detectives complicating matters, he must solve the murder before he can go home.

3

Death in Springtime

by Magdalen Nabb

1983

During an unlikely March snowfall, two foreign girls vanish from a Florence piazza in broad daylight. One returns with a ransom demand, but Marshal Guarnaccia doubts her story and races to find the other.

4

Death in Autumn

by Magdalen Nabb

1985

A woman dressed only in a fur coat and jewelry is found floating in the Arno at dawn. Marshal Guarnaccia identifies her as a missing hotel guest and must determine whether she was murdered or took her own life.

5

The Marshal and the Murderer

by Magdalen Nabb

1987

A Swiss art student disappears from the Tuscan village where she has been studying, then her body is found. Marshal Guarnaccia suspects an old local feud, with roots in wartime betrayal, lies behind the crime.

6

The Marshal and the Madwoman

by Magdalen Nabb

1988

After a street disturbance, local eccentric Clementina is found dead in an apparent suicide. Marshal Guarnaccia senses murder and uncovers a tragic past shaped by Florence's flood and failures in mental health care.

7

The Marshal's Own Case

by Magdalen Nabb

1990

Leading a murder inquiry for the first time, Marshal Guarnaccia enters Florence's shadowy sex trade after a transgender sex worker is killed. An arrest comes quickly, but he believes the police have the wrong person.

8

The Marshal Makes His Report

by Magdalen Nabb

1992

A Florentine aristocrat dies in the courtyard of his crumbling family palazzo. The evidence points one way and his relatives another, but Marshal Guarnaccia risks his career to pursue the darker possibility.

9

The Marshal at the Villa Torrini

by Magdalen Nabb

1993

A well-known writer lies dead without a mark on her body at the Villa Torrini. Hungry, frustrated, and dealing with a hostile prosecutor, Marshal Guarnaccia follows an old village memory toward the truth.

10

The Monster of Florence / The Marshal and the Forgery

by Magdalen Nabb

1996

Marshal Guarnaccia is assigned to a reopened serial-killer case that has terrorized Florence for decades. Out of his usual depth and facing a prosecutor he distrusts, he fights to keep the search for justice honest.

11

Property of Blood

by Magdalen Nabb

1999

A famous fashion house founder is kidnapped after being mistaken for her daughter. With ransom forbidden and her family slow to act, Marshal Guarnaccia suspects the crime may be rooted in more than money.

12

Some Bitter Taste

by Magdalen Nabb

2002

An elderly woman's complaint about a break-in seems minor until she is found murdered. With other desperate visitors seeking help, Marshal Guarnaccia must decide which overlooked thread leads to a killer.

13

The Innocent

by Magdalen Nabb

2005

A young Japanese shoemaker's apprentice is found dead in Florence's Boboli Gardens. Marshal Guarnaccia follows a trail through an exacting workshop, a vanished Carabinieri officer, and the victim's complicated private life.

14

Vita Nuova

by Magdalen Nabb

2008

As Florence empties for summer, a wealthy young single mother is shot at her family's villa. Marshal Guarnaccia must look past the family's polished surface and untangle the resentments, secrets, and ambitions surrounding her death.

Marshal Guarnaccia books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Death of an Englishman"

    Death of an Englishman

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1981Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Death of a Dutchman"

    Death of a Dutchman

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1981Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Death in Springtime"

    Death in Springtime

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1983Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Death in Autumn"

    Death in Autumn

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1985Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "The Marshal and the Murderer"

    The Marshal and the Murderer

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1987Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "The Marshal and the Madwoman"

    The Marshal and the Madwoman

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1988Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "The Marshal's Own Case"

    The Marshal's Own Case

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1990Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "The Marshal Makes His Report"

    The Marshal Makes His Report

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1992Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "The Marshal at the Villa Torrini"

    The Marshal at the Villa Torrini

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1993Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "The Monster of Florence / The Marshal and the Forgery"

    The Monster of Florence / The Marshal and the Forgery

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1996Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Property of Blood"

    Property of Blood

    by Magdalen Nabb

    1999Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Some Bitter Taste"

    Some Bitter Taste

    by Magdalen Nabb

    2002Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "The Innocent"

    The Innocent

    by Magdalen Nabb

    2005Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Vita Nuova"

    Vita Nuova

    by Magdalen Nabb

    2008Marshal Guarnaccia, Book 14

Series background & context

Magdalen Nabb's Marshal Guarnaccia novels are police mysteries set in Florence, but the city is never just scenery. Behind its famous streets and grand buildings are crowded flats, old family grudges, struggling neighborhoods, wealthy residents, tourists, and people who would rather keep their private lives private. Each investigation opens another door into that hidden Florence.

The central figure is Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, a Sicilian serving with the Carabinieri in Florence. He isn't a flashy detective or a lone-wolf genius. He is patient, thoughtful, and often underestimated, especially by people with more money, education, or influence than he has. He notices discomfort, evasions, and the small facts that don't fit. He also has a strong sense that a case matters because of the people caught inside it.

Guarnaccia's home life matters too. His wife, family, meals, worries about money, and daily irritations give the books a warm, lived-in counterweight to the violence of the cases. He can be stubborn, tired, and outmatched by bureaucracy, but he keeps going. That quiet persistence is the heart of the series.

The mysteries range from suspicious deaths and kidnappings to cold cases and crimes tied to class, politics, family history, and Florence's uneasy relationship with outsiders. In Death in Springtime, a daytime abduction during an unusual snowfall puts Guarnaccia under pressure. The Marshal Makes His Report takes him into a fading aristocratic palazzo, while Property of Blood places a kidnapping beside the complicated loyalties of a powerful fashion family.

The tone is measured rather than breakneck. These are character-driven police procedurals with real stakes, dry humor, and close attention to place. Nabb lets the Marshal make mistakes and feel the weight of what he sees. The books can be dark, but they are not cynical, because Guarnaccia's compassion keeps pulling the stories back toward ordinary human needs.

Florence has its own role in every case.

The novels work best in publication order, beginning with Death of an Englishman, because Guarnaccia's colleagues, family life, and place in the force develop over time. Still, most individual cases have a complete central mystery, so later entries can be enjoyed on their own. Start early if you want the fullest picture of the Marshal. Choose a later book if a particular premise, from a missing student to a murder in the Boboli Gardens, catches your eye.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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