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Aurelio Zen
Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England. The son of a physicist, he was brought up from the age of seven in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, where he attended the Friends' School and was taught by James Simmons. He graduated with a degree in English from Sussex University, and then went to study for a Master's degree at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Career After publishing his first novel, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, he lived for four years in Italy, teaching at the university in Perugia. Dibdin is best known for his Aurelio Zen mysteries, set in Italy. The first of these, '' Ratking'', won the ' Gold Dagger' award of 1988. This series of detective novels provide a penetrating insight into the less visible aspects of Italian society ove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians". Historically part of Staffordshire, the city grew initially as a market town specialising in the wool trade. In the Industrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making, and the manufacture of cars and motorcycles. The economy of the city is still based on engineering, including a large aerospace industry, as well as the service sector. Toponym The city is named after Wulfrun, who founded the town in 985, from the Anglo-Saxon ''Wulfrūnehēantūn'' ("Wulfrūn's high or principal enclosure or farm"). Before the Norman Conquest, the area's name appears only as variants of ''Heantune'' or ''Hamtun'', the prefix ''Wulfrun'' or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter. Alternatively, the city may h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 makes it one of the nation's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling . The Seattle area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thanksgiving (novel)
''Thanksgiving'' is a 2000 fiction novel by British author Michael Dibdin. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2000 through Faber & Faber. The book follows a man who decides to visit his dead wife's first husband. Synopsis During their marriage Lucy never said much about her past, so when Lucy dies during a horrific plane crash Tom decides to try to find out exactly what happened in her first marriage. He knows that she had two children by him, but Lucy was very close-mouthed about anything else that pertained to Darryl Bob Allen. However the more Anthony looks into Lucy's past, the more obsessed he grows. Reception Critical reception for ''Thanksgiving'' was mostly positive. ''The Guardian'' gave ''Thanksgiving'' a positive review, commenting that while the book did not fully answer all of the questions it posed, that this was purposely done since the book was predominantly about "one man's voyage into darkness, into both the impossibility and the ecst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dying Of The Light (1993 Novel)
''The Dying of the Light'' is a 1993 murder mystery novel by Michael Dibdin Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... set in a nursing home. References External links * http://www.randomhouse.com/book/40367/the-dying-of-the-light-by-michael-dibdin 1993 British novels British crime novels Faber and Faber books {{1990s-crime-novel-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
''The Last Sherlock Holmes Story'' is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Michael Dibdin. The novel is an account of Holmes's attempt to solve the Jack the Ripper murders. Holmes suspects the Ripper to be his nemesis, James Moriarty. There is a twist ending, revealing that Holmes himself had invented the character of Moriarty due to insanity, and was himself committing the crimes, a twist which some reviewers have found to be clever while others found disappointing. There is also an ambiguity to the revelation as, despairing, Holmes tries to explain to his companion Dr. John H. Watson that Moriarty has fooled Watson and framed Holmes. review at epinions See also *''[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
End Games
''End Games'' is a 2007 novel by Michael Dibdin. It is the 11th and last entry in the Aurelio Zen Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... series. Plot Police detective Aurelio Zen is posted to remote Calabria, at the toe of the Italian boot. Beneath the surface of a tight-knit, traditional community, he discovers that violent forces are at work. There has been a brutal murder and Zen is determined to find a way to penetrate the code of silence, to uncover the truth, but his assignment is complicated by another secret which has drawn strangers from the other side of the world - a hunt for ancient buried treasure, launched by a single-minded player with millions to spend pursuing his bizarre and deadly obsession. Commentary According to Barry Forshaw, "In the past, Dib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Back To Bologna
''Back to Bologna'' is a 2005 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the tenth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... series. Plot Zen, an Italian police detective, is on sick leave after a stomach operation and is feeling a shadow of himself. His relationship with his partner, Gemma, is also not going well. She is about to leave for Bologna to meet her son who has something important to tell her. Meanwhile, Zen is recalled to duty and is sent to be the liaison officer for a high-profile murder investigation - in Bologna – where the local football team owner has been shot, as well as stabbed with a Parmesan knife. Whilst in Bologna, Gemma manages to get tickets to watch a live cook-off between local academic celebrity Edgardo Ugo and singi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medusa (Dibdin Novel)
''Medusa'' is a 2003 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the ninth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... series about an Italian police detective. Plot When a group of Austrian cavers exploring in the Italian Alps comes across human remains at the bottom of a deep shaft, everyone assumes the death was accidental. But then the body is removed from the morgue and the Defence Ministry puts a news blackout on the case. Smelling a rat, and seeing an opportunity to embarrass their political rivals in the run-up to a cabinet change, the Ministry of the Interior puts Aurelio Zen onto the case. The search for the truth leads him into the turbulent political history of Italy during the seventies and also into obscure corners of modern-day affluent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And Then You Die (novel)
''And Then You Die'' is a 2002 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the eighth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... series. Plot Aurelio Zen is back, but nobody's supposed to know it...After months in hospital recovering from a bomb attack on his car, Zen is lying low under a false name at a beach resort on the Tuscan coast, waiting to testify in an imminent high profile Mafia trial. He has clear instructions: to sit back and enjoy the classic Italian beach holiday. But Zen is getting restless, despite a developing romance with a mysterious and alluring occupant of a nearby sunbed, as an alarming number of people seem to be dropping dead around him. Abruptly, the pleasant monotony of beach life is cut short as the word comes and he finds hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Rain (novel)
''Blood Rain'' is a novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the seventh in the Aurelio Zen series. It was published in 1999 by Faber & Faber. In it Zen, an Italian police detective, is pitted against the Sicilian Mafia and at the end is the subject of a bombing attack for political reasons. Plot Aurelio Zen gets a posting to Sicily, where he is asked to report to Rome on the work of the Direzione Investagitiva AntiMafia (DIA). Carla, his adopted daughter is there too, setting up police computers, and discovers that someone has a backdoor into the data there. She is also enjoying a flirtation with Corinna Nunziatella, an elaborately guarded woman magistrate who is also investigating the Mafia. Before this can proceed far, they are ambushed on a mountain road and their car is bombed. Zen has meanwhile been called back to Rome by the news of his mother's approaching death. This, coupled to news of Carla's death, temporarily puts him out of action, and when he returns to his headquarters in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Long Finish
''A Long Finish'' is a 1998 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the sixth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ... series. Synopsis After his adventures under sun-drenched Neapolitan skies in ''Cosi Fan Tutti'', Italian police detective Aurelio Zen finds himself reluctantly back in Rome, sneezing in the damp wine cellar of a retired but still powerful and connected mover and shaker. Strings are pulled and he is given another unorthodox assignment: find evidence that clears the jailed scion of an important wine-growing family, who is accused of brutal murder, in time to harvest what is anticipated to be a great vintage. Zen is confronted with the closed ranks and closed mouths of a small, remote rural town, where everyone knows the secrets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosi Fan Tutti
''Cosi Fan Tutti'' is a novel by Michael Dibdin published by Faber and Faber in 1996. The fifth in his Aurelio Zen series, it is set in Naples. One strand of the plot plays on the storyline of the Mozart comic opera '' Così fan tutte''; in addition, the chapter titles are all taken from the Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto for that opera. Plot At odds with his superiors again, Italian police detective Zen has asked for a transfer and thinks he has found himself a backwater sinecure in Naples. In return for a quiet life with pastries and a cappuccino on his desk every morning, he is prepared to tolerate all manner of scams, not the least of which is a brothel on the top floor of the harbour police station of which he is nominally in command. Though the recent “Clean Hands” agitation has brought down institutionalized political corruption elsewhere in Italy, it appears to be making little difference in Naples - until, that is, the slogan ''Strade Pullite'' (clean streets) begins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
