Magdalen Nabb

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

Born in Church, a village near Accrington in Lancashire as Magdalen Nuttal, she was educated at the Convent Grammar School, Bury, before going on to art college in Manchester, where she studied arts and pottery, which she taught in an art school. In 1975 she moved to Florence in Italy with her son, Liam, even though she didn't speak Italian. There, she continued to work on pottery in 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 station to stroll there regularly and have a chat with the marshal, who kept her up to date on crime in the city.

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 for Josie Smith and Eileen, the second book in the series. Her final novel, Vita Nuova, 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
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