Guarnaccia is one of fiction's most satisfying detectives, a man whose domestic life is as fascinating as his cases . . . The series began with Death of an Englishman and is distinguished by its superb sense of place. --The Times' One Hundred Masters of Crime

Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florentine Carabinieri wants to go south for Christmas to spend the holiday with his family in Sicily, but a retired Englishman living in Florence has been murdered. Who has shot Mr. Langley-Smythe in the back? The marshal must discover the identity of the criminal and the motive for the crime before he can take the train home for the holidays.