Number 12 in the Marshal Guranaccia series set in Florence, Some Bitter Taste is outstanding. The pace is quick, the plot intriguing, and the characters believable and sympathetic. The last quarter of the book is a real page-turner; it was too good to put down until I had finished it.[return] Over the series, Guarnaccia really hasn't changed: a big man, kind, truly caring for those in his quarter whom he is sworn to protect, he views himself, however, as slow and a bit stupid. But by this point in the series, he is the only one who thinks so. Captain Maestrangelo, his superior, and yet another of the nameless prosecutors clearly respect Guarnaccia and are even in some awe of his instincts and bulldog pursuit of the truth in a case.[return] The main plot centers around the fate of art works of European Jews fleeing Hitler during World War II. It also offers a brief glimpse into a few ways in which Jews were hidden and protected in Florence. There is a subplot involving the problem of illegal female Albanians involved in prostitution. But this is handled in very objectively, with an interesting turn at its resolution.[return] While the minor characters--recurring ones such as Maestrangelo, the prosecutor, Lorenzini as well as those concerned only in the current story--are well handled and very believably, oddly enough the marshal's family is somewhat distant as he is forced to be himself. His two sons are not well drawn and the relationship between the boys and their father extremely sketchy. However, his wife Teresa comes out more strongly in this book. His dependence on her, of which he is very conscious, is very clear, although she herself is not particularly well developed as a character. Florence itself is not as strong a "character" in these books as, say, Venice is in the Comissario Brunetti books of Donna Leon. But these are very minor, practically unnoticeable, and do not detract from the strengths of the plotting, characterization, and writing itself.[return] Highly recommended.
