Dead Lagoon: An Aurelio Zen Mystery ~Michael Dibdin

–published 1994
–Vintage Books
–297 pages
–7/10 stars

In this fourth novel featuring Criminalpol detective Aurelio Zen, Michael Dibdin sends his gritty sophisticate back to his native Venice, ostensibly to investigate alleged attacks against an aged contessa, an old family friend. Zen’s real motivation is to dig into the disappearance of a wealthy American whose case has been closed and declared unsolvable. That is no barrier to Aurelio Zen, for he is motivated by that which sets all things into motion–money.

I became enamored of Venice-born Aurelio Zen thanks to the BBC adaptations of the first three of Michael Dibdin’s novels, which aired here in America back in July courtesy of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. Actor Rufus Sewell played the part of this upscale, Rome-based police detective whose famed reputation for integrity seemed at odds with the choices he made in order to get the job done. When I heard that the series was cancelled and at this time no more of Dibdin’s novels are set to be adapted, a sad fact that I hope changes soon, I decided I wanted to know more about Aurelio Zen and I picked up a copy of the next book in the series.

Michael Dibdin passed away in 2007 and thus had no hand in the adapting of his works. Knowing the liberties that are often taken with novel to film adaptations, I had no idea what to expect.

While I had no trouble picturing Rufuss Sewell as the “urbane and skeptical Aurelio Zen”, the detective that Michael Dibdin unleashed in Dead Lagoon was as unlike the films’ version as often as they were mirror images of one another. It made for an interesting read.

If you are expecting a formulaic mystery in which the bad guys are all bad and the good guys are all good and everything is tied up with a neat bow at the end, I can tell you right now that Aurelio Zen is not for you. If, however you are looking for a detective novel that at times reads like a work of literary fiction with a protagonist who is hell bent on doing things his way in a world that is becoming increasingly more legalistic and regimented, then I would recommend you give Dibdin’s series a try.

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