Dead Lagoon

Michael Dibdin

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9780571274130
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Crime & Mystery Literature
• Index: Literature

'A rollicking good tale.' INDEPENDENT
'A first-rate mystery.' WASHINGTON POST

AN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY

Aurelio Zen returns to his native Venice in an unofficial capacity, to investigate the disappearance of an American millionaire. But he is quickly reminded that, amid the hazy light and shifting waters of the lagoon, nothing is what it seems.

As he is drawn deeper into the ambiguous mysteries surrounding the discovery of a skeletal corpse, he is also forced to confront a series of disturbing revelations about his own life.

'Absolutely brilliant . . . made me want to go back to travel in Italy again.' 5* reader review
'I loved this book . . . a good storyline, and enough twists to keep me guessing.' 5* reader review
'Perfect entertainment.' 5* reader review
'My personal favourite in a great series.' 5* reader review

PRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:
'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN
'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES
'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN
'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT
'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR
'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell
'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER
'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review
'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review
'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review
'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Maps
• A ragged line of geese passed overhead, silhouetted
• When he awoke again the room was filled with an
• Her first thought, when the bell rings, is that it is just
• Aurelio Zen made his way slowly through the hushed
• A miniature blizzard whirled up into the sunny air
• Aurelio Zen walked slowly home through the darkening
• By the time he turns up, of course, her shield and
• By morning, a dense fog had settled on the city.
• If Zen had been worried that his presence at the rally 
• The next day dawned dull and cold.
• Zen paid for his broken sleep and early rising with a
• It was late when Zen got back to the city.
• It was the strangeness that woke him, the presence of
• Zen paid for his broken sleep and early rising with a
• Gobs of slush fell in slanting lines through the air
• He walked back to the Questura. It was colder than
• Filippo Sfriso’s return to the Questura was in stark
• At first it looked as though the clouds which had
• Aldo Valentini arrived shortly before three o’clock
• He was woken by a cry below the window
• On the way back to his office, Zen met Pia Nunziata
• The day might earlier have seemed an augury of spring
• He crossed a square in front of a gaunt, graceless church
• Zen’s initial reaction was one of disbelief, closely
• At first Saoner made no attempt to get away. He set off
• Winter sunlight, hard and brilliant, searched the grimy
• The Zen Series from Michael Dibdin
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• Copyright