The Dying of the Light: A Mystery (Paperback)

by Michael Dibdin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews
Immured in a beastly nursing home run by smarmy William Anderson and his foulmouthed sister Letitia Davis, Rosemary Travis, abetted by her cooperative chum Dorothy Davenport, keeps her spirits up by embroidering the horrors of life at Eventide Lodge into a baroque Golden Age mystery plot--a plot that casts each of her innocuous fellow-geriatrics as a possible suspect when Hilary Bryant dies or George Channing attempts to escape and is mauled by Anderson's Doberman. But when Dorothy, on the eve of her departure for the hospital for terminal-cancer treatment, dies of a fantastic concoction of liquor and pills, Rosemary has a real-life mystery on her hands. Or does she? Did Dorothy really kill herself? Or was Anderson getting rid of her as expeditiously as possible? Or was the killer some other patient? Or is the whole plot one last fictional legacy of Dorothy's? Once again, Dibdin, author of Ratking and the Aurelio Zen novels (Vendetta, 1991, etc.), produces a tale as piercingly funny as Tom Stoppard--and as wise about the powers of fiction to deal with an unspeakable world. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader. He writes the unmentionable calmly and with devastating effect."
—Ruth Rendell

"Horribly, monstrously funny . . . a merry and maddening jeu d'esprit."
—The Independent on Sunday

"An elegant novel."
—Boston Globe

"As appealing as it is inventive."
—The Sunday Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679753109
• ISBN-13: 978-0679753100
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #642,357 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprise, shock, but dont degrade, August 28, 2000

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

The solution to this mystery, "The Dying Of The Light", is as clever as any of Mr. Dibdin's work. The matching of wits, the misdirection, and words so carefully chosen, create a wonderful adversary for the inspector. That his adversary is at least an octogenarian, creates a duel that is just that more interesting.

This story is a bit like the board game that requires the players to solve, who did what to whom, where was it done, and what was the weapon of choice. The setting is a home for the aged, and the environment is which they live could be described as one created by a satanic Dickens. This atmosphere is what I did not care for. A good mystery does not require the degradation of a character, humiliation does not shock as much as it makes the reader uncomfortable, and for me it does nothing but detract from the tale.

I have commented on many other of this Author's work, so I will not repeat the thoughts here. The resolution was excellent, the action leading to it however, barely made the book a worthy read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly dark humor with a focus on relationships, August 13, 1999

By A Customer

Dibdin is, in my opinion, what the mystery genre needs; a quality literature writer who happens to use mystery as an excuse to tell his story. His humor is deliciously dark and at times shocking. What sets him apart is his focus on relationships. The solution to the mystery is not nearly as important as how the characters interact. Dibdin deserves much more respect than we Americans have given him. Dibdin is what mystery should be. I also recommend the Aurelio Zen series for a "detective" with a distinctly melancholy personality.

2.0 out of 5 stars All red herrings, no meat, July 26, 2008

By	Sea Cure - See all my reviews

It's a cute story with a circuitous trail of red herrings used to reach a different end to a non-mystery story. The writing is good, but the story is Dibdin-lite.