Cosi Fan Tutti [Hardcover]

Michael Dibdin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1998

An Aurelio Zen Novel

Michael Dibdin's overburdened Italian police inspector has been transferred to Naples, where the rule of law is so lax that a police station may double as a brothel. But this time, having alienated superiors with his impolitic zealousness in every previous posting, Zen is determined not to make waves.

Too bad an American sailor (who may be neither American nor a sailor) knifes one of his opposite numbers in Naples's harbor, and some local garbage collectors have taken to moonlighting in homicide. And when Zen becomes embroiled in a romantic intrigue involving love-sick gangsters and prostitutes who pass themselves off as Albanian refugees, all Naples comes to resemble the set of the Mozart opera of the same title. Bawdy, suspenseful, and splendidly farcical, the result is an irresistible offering from a maestro of mystery.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The career of Italian policeman Auerlio Zen has certainly had its operatic ups and downs: as a nasty colleague points out, "In Milan, you wrongfully arrest a man for the Tondelli murder, and 20 years later he tries to kill you after his release from prison. In Rome, you single-handedly 'solve' the Moro kidnapping, unfortunately too late to save the victim." So it's fitting that Michael Dibdin has used a real comic opera by Mozart and Lorenzo Daponte as the frame for his latest Zen outing. A Northern fish in Naples's polluted waters, Venetian-born Zen seems to have found the perfect job to make himself invisible, as head of the harbor police. But several tangled plots--including one that deftly turns the Daponte stew of unsuitable suitors and fake Albanians on its head--conspire to bring Auerlio into the spotlight one more time. Two of Dibdin's best Zen encounters, Ratking and Dead Lagoon, are available in paperback. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Assigned to Naples, policeman Aurelio Zen takes time to assist a local wealthy widow: he refuses to let her daughters marry their supposedly Mafia-connected fiances. Soon involved in a case of murder and mistaken for Mafia himself, Zen plays out Dibdin's (Dark Spector, LJ 12/95) version of a darkly comic opera.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (December 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517283832
• ISBN-13: 978-0517283837
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,774,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its about what you are not thinking, August 13, 2000

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cosi Fan Tutti: An Aurelio Zen Mystery (Paperback)

Da Ponte wrote a libretto for the opera the composer called "The School For Lovers". Michael Dibdin titles each chapter with a title from the libretto in Italian, and in the contents gives the English approximation. An estimate, a guess, any thought that suggests ambiguity is appropriate for this Aurelio Zen mystery, for neither the reader nor those fictional characters of "Cosi Fan Tutti" really know what is happening either.

When the protagonist in the series is reduced to thinking, "Not only was the plot slipping from his grasp, even the names of the cast appeared unfamiliar" you either are holding a great tale, or the thoughts of a writer who is in over his head. In the hands of a lesser talent this would often suggest a book that has lost direction and has resorted to rhetorical thought, as some gimmick for obscuring what is at heart a story gone amiss. But this is Michael Dibdin, and control of plot is never an issue for him.

Like a great play or opera the story arrives at its denouement, and then seemingly every player is brought together and the true and final facades are taken away. But for the Author this is not enough, for in the previous book he plants in Aurelio's mind a doubt of the worst sort, which appears to be solved at the end. A Priest leans over Zen's stricken Mother, the Confession, and then the question as to whether the Mother would like the Right of Extreme Unction. The Mother of course responds with "is there more Brandy", the "Priest" is a mature changeling of sorts, and everything you thought you knew, is twisted. All your thoughts are held up to a mirror, and they are not backward gibberish, but Michael Dibdin true plot, having once again the final resounding laughs at the reader's expense, and delight.

Michael Dibdin has yet to repeat one of his sleights of thought he baffles his reader's with, and with only 1 installment left to read I doubt there will be repetition. His writing is wonderful, to use a climber's term he continually presents false summits, the corner you turn is never the last until you are convinced it is not, and his mirrors reflect what he wants them to, not what light and nature intend.

My enthusiasm for this man's work continues unabated, his work is simply excellent.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your average mystery, August 5, 2000

By 

NC (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosi Fan Tutti: An Aurelio Zen Mystery (Paperback)

If you're expecting your traditional whodunit, this ain't it. Dibdin is definitely not a formula writer and it's impossible to know exactly what to expect when Aurelio Zen is involved. This case is a classic, It's well-written with plot lines within plot lines of which Zen, or you, may or may not be aware. It doesn't matter anyway because this book was, to put it simply, a lot of fun to read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful crime novel with style!, October 7, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosi Fan Tutti: An Aurelio Zen Mystery (Paperback)

Michael Dibdin has created a wonderfully clever, witty and suspenseful crime novel. He weaves the characters together seamlessly amidst the perplexing chaos and rhythm of Naples. Anyone looking for a stylish novel with deft touches of humor need look no further.