Dead Lagoon: An Aurelio Zen Mystery

Dibdin's Italian police detective Aurelio Zen visits his old hometown of Venice on a purely personal and pecuniary quest. Needing money, Zen has agreed to search for the body - dead or alive - of a vanished American millionaire whose estate cannot be settled while his whereabouts are in doubt. Since this sort of side job is illegal, Zen reviews the Venice docket for a case that might give him cover. If his colleagues think it peculiar that he has been sent from Rome to investigate the "haunting" of a dotty old lady - contessa or not - they are relieved to have it off their shoulders. Zen pursues his disparate cases in between revisiting the haunts of his childhood, now hopelessly transformed, and kindling a new, possibly dangerous flame. This is a dark, richly textured and densely atmospheric novel, steeped in the beauty of history and architecture and the corruption of Italian politics. Events are more inevitable than suspenseful and Zen, solving each of his mysteries in turn, is a hero to no one, including himself.

Misty, mysterious Venice is always a favourite "character", whether it be in fiction or biography. Venice does not give up its secrets easily, and Dibdin is a master at ensuring the tension builds and the plot is assisted through location. He is equally adept at characterisation - the restless, driven Zen, who confronts several ethical dilemmas along the way, and several of the supporting "cast" , all of whom come to life and populate the setting magnificently. The story itself is intriguing, with enough revelations along the way. There is no great finale denouement, more a piecing together of the jigsaw, and one great personal revelation about Zen's family background. I thought Dibdin was at his very best when the action moves to the Questura (police headquarters). I half expected Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti to come strollign along the corridor! The "chase" sequence - on foot and boat through wintry night time Venice was also excellent. Thoroughly recommended for anyone who enjoys top quality crime fiction. No formulaic writing here!

I'm a new reader of Michael Dibdin and am already hooked. Aurelio Zen is a thinking person's detective and a modern Italian version of the world-weary, incorruptible, and cynical hardboiled detectives of the 1930s. The mystery itself is compelling, with a ghost story as the key to intricate, overlapping conspiracies. But the glory of the book is its Venetian topography, along with its insights into Zen's psychological terrain and finely-honed sense of justice. I highly recommend this book.

My first introduction to Dibdin was Dark Specter, which I thought was average. Then I tried Ratking, which I found to be a little too verbose for my taste. However, he's really hit the mark with this one, in my opinion. Smart, taut, winding, Dibdin's mystery is elegantly plotted and rich in cultural and political detail. Maybe it was the alluring cover but this book struck me as much more colorful and lush than the other two.