Dead Lagoon: An Aurelio Zen Mystery (Paperback)

by Michael Dibdin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In this, the latest in the Aurelio Zen series, Zen is in Venice under false pretenses. He's ostensibly there to investigate the "haunting" of an old family friend, but actually, and illegally, in town to find the body--dead or alive--of the missing patriarch of a wealthy American family.

"Zen is as sharp as ever in dealing with sneering Venetian lowlifes and bent Venetian cops. This masterfully atmospheric tale...will make most readers wish he could have stayed on the case forever." --Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Always an erudite crime writer, Dibdin places complex characters into exacting plot puzzles that unfold in evocative prose rich in historical and geographic color. In the fifth case (the last was Cabal) featuring his Italian policeman Aurelio Zen, the sleuth leaves Rome for his native Venice to trace the disappearance of a wealthy businessman. While visiting the haunts of his youth and stirring fleeting memories (the name of a boyhood friend raises "a host of remembered images... like a flock of disturbed pigeons"), Zen meets old men who confuse him with his father, who vanished mysteriously long ago. On an island used for mass burials, someone thinks he sees a vision, and a bag of heroin is misplaced. A new right-wing party is seizing power in the city, and Zen has the misfortune to fall for the estranged wife of the party leader. An old friend of his mother's, who's convinced that costumed "Swamp-dwellers" are invading her house, is far from credible, having been long judged unbalanced for a tale she tells of a missing daughter. Zen trails many lost people through twisting generations and winding waterways to face answers to questions he did not ask. Dibdin's mysteries are as nonlinear as the streets and canals of Venice; his prose is literate and seductive.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679753117
• ISBN-13: 978-0679753117
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #39,084 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Aurelio Zen Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, richly atmospheric mystery set in Venice, August 18, 1996

By A Customer

Dead Lagoon is a richly atmospheric and complex psychological mystery set in Venice. Michael Dibdin does an excellent job of using the Venetian landscape as a supporting character in the mystery at hand. Best of all for armchair travelers, the two maps included in the book help you follow the action which ranges across the lagoon in all directions on land, sea and air. Following the main character, Aurelio Zen, as he resolves the dual interwoven mysteries and his personal romantic problems is a most enjoyable reading experience. Zen is deep, dark and driven. His peregrinations across Venice in winter are a source of pure delight. The mysteries at the core of the book are well formulated and keep the reader guessing until the very end. Dibdin leavens the darkness of the novel with a touch of black humor. Highly recommended!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely a page turner, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

I had read Iain Pears books on the recommendation that they were full of Italian background. I found them lacking. Now, this writer and this book take you into the heart of Venice. He captures the italian personality so well. For those of you who have visited Venice you will relive the experience. Great read. Don't miss it! The previous reader didnt enjoy Zen drinking his expresso con grappa. It is the national drink. CinCin

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Evocative Representation of Venice, November 14, 2002

By	Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this installment of the Aurelio Zen series, the protagonist's visit to his native city of Venice is fraught with desire. Zen's dreams include moving away from the detestable Rome and installing himself with his mother and girlfriend Tania into a the Zen villa off the Cannaregio canal. His fantasy lacks substance only because the money he has isn't nearly what he needs to refurbish the decaying house. With his hachet-sharp mind, Zen figures out a way to subsidize his scanty paycheck; he will discover the whereabouts, alive or dead, of a wealthy missing American whose family is willing to pay him plenty to end the legal quagmire his estate is in. In order to stay in Venice in an offical capacity, he attaches himself to a seemingly simple case involving one of his mother's acquaintances, a batty old countess who swears she is being terrorized by intruders in her own stately palazzo. But, Aurelio's best laid machinations fall, so-to-speak, in the black wells known as the pozzi neri or septic tanks over which all the houses of Venice are built. As Zen attempts to solve his investigative puzzles and family problems with his best intentions, he is sidetracked by meeting old friends, one of which is immersed in a political movement meant to eventually restore Venice to it former strategic position as a great trading nation---the other the attractive wife of the movement's leader. With the addition of these new factors, Zen's intital dreams shift and change like the waters in the canals.

Being lucky enough to have visited Venice myself, I found Dibdin's audio, visual and olifactory portrait of the city remarkable. The labyrinth of small bridges, canals and walkways are expertly rendered and a joy to read. As always with this series, Zen's ability to bend the law to his own advantage and pull in favors embues the novel with a gritty realism. His thoughts of his mother, his girlfriends, past and present are priceless, adding just the right comedic touch to lighten his otherwise cynical existence.