Back to Bologna

by Michael Dibdin

Book Overview

In the latest installment in his critically acclaimed Italian mystery series, Michael Didbin sends Aurelio Zen to Italy's culinary capital, Bologna, where he discovers that some cases are not quite what they appear to be. When the corpse of the shady Bologna industrialist who owns the local football team is found both shot and stabbed with a Parmesan knife, Aurelio Zen is summoned to oversee the investigation. Anxious for a break from his girlfriend,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307275884
• ISBN13: 9780307275882
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Comedy with occasional outbursts of mystery

Even if you actually read and (even less likely) loved "Name of the Rose," you'll still enjoy Dibdin's farcical sendup of Umberto Eco in the latest adventure of Vice Questore Aurelio Zen, whose love life is in the dumpster as usual. The operatic plot--the collision of a egotistical television cooking star, a soccer team, an academician of semiotics, a romantic young couple direct from "The Prisoner of Zenda," and a witless private investigator in love with the American PIs of the 40s, with the more than usually self-destructive Zen and his soon-to-be former girl friend--is breathtaking. No one captures the dark side of Italy with more gusto and humor than Michael Dibdin. Mr. Dibdin's recent passing is a real sorrow to those who love his writing--I'm hoping that there might be a novel or two more yet to come.

another entertaining read

Thank you Dibden. This book had many of the twists and turns I have enjoyed throughout the series. I just keep wishing there were more books. This wasn't my favorite, nor was it the most entertaining, but it was well worth the read. I thought it took a little longer to get into it, but by the halfway point, I couldn't put it down. What is with this guy, Zen? He lacks all the attributes of a super hero and lord knows his values and morals are questionable at best, but he sure is fascinating. When will the movies start coming out? If you have enjoyed the others, then I suspect you will enjoy this book. I did.

Absolutely Delightful!

This Aurelio Zen novel is a real departure from Dibdin's other Zen books, as he clearly tells us toward the end of the book--it all depends on mood and atmosphere. The plot resolves itself like a set of dominos. Zen doesn't solve a thing--circumstances conspire to catch the crooks, resolve the conflicts, and reform some of the sinners. Very, very clever.

Zen or the failure of maintenance

Talk about maintaining a few things. Your health. Your relationships. Your job. Aurelio Zen fails to maintain all of them properly, or maybe he doesn't want to. Maybe that's the key. He does not know what he wants, maybe. This sequel in the Aurelio Zen saga will please Aurelio followers, but may be a bad idea if Dibdin wants to enlarge his own followers community. It relies too much on the readers knowing what happened earlier. The title of volume 10 relates to cop Bruno, whom Zen helped getting a transfer back to Bologna out of the wilderness of Southern Tyrole, when Bruno helped Zen in Medusa. But there are other meanings, spelled out later in the story. Aurelio has managed to become a hypochondriach and upsets lovely but hard-nosed Gemma from two volumes back, who knows most things better. Tough move for Aurelio. The case itself is of rather minor importance here compared to the antics of our hero as far as his life is concerned. There is a cameo appearance of Umberto Eco, disguised as Edgardo Ugo, known as The Ego, including a satire on semiotics as "science". There is a minor Berlusconi-like football magnate called Lorenzo Curti, who doubles up as Parmalat scandalist. There is a singing TV cook called Romano Rinaldo, or Lo Chef, who is explicitly compared to Pavarotti, appearance wise. I.o.w., the novel is overloaded with Italiana, as it should be, and great fun for us Zenistas. Still, I think, MD should try to write his Zen stories a bit more on a stand alone basis. By the way, there is also one "foreign" element in here, Flava from Ruritania. I had to google that. Very funny.

If you really love Italian Mysteries, read this Dibdin

I guess the previous reviewers are looking for blood and sensation when they decide to read an "Italian Mystery". Most likely, they just don't understand the real Italian soul. Dibdin does, and his latest novel is an excellent illustration of this. The plot reads as an Italian opera, the characters are as Italian as an espresso coffee, and the absence of real action reminds me of my time spend in Italy (both as a tourist and for work). I have to admit that Dibdin counts on some intellectual snobbism amidst his readers, but it is so obvious that it makes you smile. This book, as most other Dibdins, is not written for the lovers of crime and death, but for the connoisseurs of live. Absolutely recommended for readers that know the difference between the kitsch of a Beaujolais nouveau and the joy of a Barolo