Medusa

Rating:
Summary: Molto Bene!
Review: If the action in "And then You Die" could be deemed Zen's recuperation period after the devastating events of Sicily, "Medusa" demonstrates a Zen well again, and indeed up to his old unscrupulous tricks, but still feeling the pressures of his ordeal.

Dibdin concentrates more on his secondary cast in this police procedural involving the discovery by a group of Austrian spelunkers of the body of a soldier thought to have been killed 30 years earlier in a freak airplane accident. Dibdin excels in depicting the various Italian agencies scrambling to cover-up an affair they don't quite understand, but fully recognize as having the potential to disclose a little too much of their own corruptness. In addition Dibdin's psychological portrayals of the individual members of Medusa, the elite military force to which the dead man once belonged, smack with realism; I especially enjoyed lonely Gabriele who wants nothing more than to live in the world of his antiquarian bookstore---he reminded me of the "rat man" in "A Long Finish". In addition, Naldino, the socialistic restaurant owner gives new meaning to the term "confused anger" and Claudia is just as snakey as an aging femme fatale as the Gorgon of the title.
Intermingled within these portraits of the past, Medusa gives us glimpses of Zen harriedly and conscientiously boarding trains all over the north of Italy from Florence to Campione d'Italie near Switzerland. Obviously, he has not lost his doggedness or his world-weariness---he works through the quagmire of politicism as only an Italian can---he solves the case employing the most unorthodox methods while pursuing leads, chain-smoking and drinking enough coffee and grappa to fuel an entire Starbucks and receiving an unexpected "atta-boy" from his superior in the end. Something tells me that in a future installment, Gemma, the new lady in Zen's life, just may iron out some of his cynicism and infuse him with some enthusiasm that could, while letting his guard down, get him into some hilarious form of trouble. A pity she only has a cameo role in this one.
Nevertheless, it is so good to see Zen on the prowl again in a new well-paced story set against the backdrop of exquisite Italian scenery still somehow not tainted by the knowledge of what goes on behind the Italian government machine. I would love to see Zen on the silver screen--I'd even raise a glass of grappa to that!
Recommended to all Zen lovers. As with the other books in this series, this book is better read in the order in which it was written to get the most out of the on-going story line and characterizations of Zen and his friends.

Rating:
Summary: Zen and the Misteri d'Italia
Review: In Rome, rumors are spreading that there will be a major shake up in the Cabinet. Political parties are threatening to pull out of the governing coalition. And as usual, the Ministry of the Interior is at war with the Ministry of Defense. In other words, a typical day in the Byzantine world of Italian politics.

The book begins with the discovery of a soldier's body in a military tunnel complex high in the Italian Alps. A routine autopsy is interrupted when the Carbinieri steal the body in the early morning hours from the hospital's morgue. The Army is spooked and Aurelio Zen's bosses in the Ministry of the Interior sense an opportunity to embarass the Army. Thus in the ninth book of this venerable series, Aurelio Zen is sent off to do battle with yet another powerful and corrupt Italian institution.

What makes the Aurelio Zen series so pleasurable is that the traditional Anglo American mystery genre is undermined by a Latin sensibility. In the Anglo American mystery, the world is a logical and ultimately benign place. With hard work and intuition, the Anglo American detective can resolve the mystery. The guilty are punished and harmony and balance are restored.

Aurelio Zen's world operates on different principles. In Zen's Italy, the powerful are corrupt and masterful in their use of violence and intimidation. Nothing is transparent. Motives are obscure and conspiracies are the preferred mediums for achieving objectives. Zen is a good man but he will do whatever it takes to survive in this harsh and unforgiving environemnt.

For those interested in the Latin sensibility, check out the Scicilian mystery writer Leonardo Sciascia or the Mexican writer Paco Ignacio Taibo. For the French take on this Latin sensibility, there is the master Goerges Simenon's Inspector Maigret. The Columbian writer Alvaro Mutis puts a magical realism spin on this sensibility.

Rating:
Summary: Aurelio Zen's new case
Review: This case takes inspector Aurelio Zen to the Dolomites to the site where a body has been found in an abandoned military tunnel. With the help of Rudi Redel, Zen treads carefully to the place where the supposed suicide took place. However, evidence shows that other people must have been present in the tunnel so Zen must assume that a murder cannot be excluded. The situation becomes even more intricate when the still unidentified body is stolen from the morgue at the Defence Ministry!
All the usual ingredients in Mr Dibdin's latest murder mystery: excellent suspense, a sympathetic Aurelio Zen (with a new girlfriend!) and plenty of ironical and amusing observations about our beloved Italy.
Michael Tudor Barnes's fantastic reading is well worth buying this audiobook.