Property of Blood

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Italian mystery
Review: I read this book about a year ago when I checked it out at my local library, so pardon me if I don't remember all of the details correctly. The opening of the book describes in intense detail a harrowing kidnapping, from the point of view of the kidnappee. You won't be able to put it down until the character is safely?? at home--actually you won't be able to put it down until you discover what actually happened at home to bring about the horrendous crime. The detective in this series is funny but has less personality than other detectives I enjoy. However, the story--which is set in the world of fashion--makes up for any defects. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Italian mystery
Review: I read this book about a year ago when I checked it out at my local library, so pardon me if I don't remember all of the details correctly. The opening of the book describes in intense detail a harrowing kidnapping, from the point of view of the kidnappee. You won't be able to put it down until the character is safely?? at home--actually you won't be able to put it down until you discover what actually happened at home to bring about the horrendous crime. The detective in this series is funny but has less personality than other detectives I enjoy. However, the story--which is set in the world of fashion--makes up for any defects. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Nabb: A Storyteller with Style, Insight and EQ
Review: Magdalen Nabb's detective (The Marshall) is based in Florence and nobody captures the dark side of that brilliantly lit town better than Nabb.

"Property of Blood" represents a change for Nabb in that great chunks of this book are written as if in the first person, by a woman who has been kidnapped. I couldn't help but ponder whether Nabb herself had spent time with victims of this all too common Italian crime: the accounts of the Italianized-American fasion maven's plight are chilling. Nabb really gets inside her soul.

The tale is a page turner despite the fact that there are some things the reader knows right from the start. Those who are familiar with Nabb's work will recognize the intricate misunderstandings that The Marshall encounters because he, as usual, fails to acknowledge his own gifts and the esteem in which he is held by his colleagues.

Here, too, we meet the family dynamic of the Marshall's own relatives contrasted with that of the victim's family in the characteristic manner that is so revealing of modern Italian life.

Nabb is amazing and this may be her best yet. If you haven't read the rest of this remarkable writer's work, you are in for a real treat of both character development (start at the beginning of The Marshall's career) and excellence of story crafting.