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A Long Finish (Aurelio Zen Mystery)
 
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A Long Finish (Aurelio Zen Mystery) (Paperback)

by Michael Dibdin (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Frequently Bought Together

A Long Finish (Aurelio Zen Mystery) + Cosi Fan Tutti + And Then You Die (Aurelio Zen Mystery)
Price For All Three: £14.04

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (5 Aug 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571197191
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571197194
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 90,987 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #11 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > D > Dibdin, Michael

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fresh from the successful investigation of a series of crimes in Naples, that admirably devious and dour Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen returns to his office in Rome to discover that a new set of bureaucrats is in power--with plans to punish him for his success by sending to him Sicily to fight the Mafia. Fate, in the form of a powerful film director, offers a way out: Zen is to go instead to Piedmont, where the murder of a noted winemaker--apparently by his son and heir--threatens the future of one of the film director's favourite vintages. Even though Zen is a Venetian by birth and drinks "fruity, fresh vino sfuso from the Friuli intended to be consumed within the year", as the director sarcastically notes, he can still see how important the case can be to his future--especially if it keeps him away from deadly Sicily. Not only wine but also truffles are involved in a growing series of murders in the area around Alba, and Michael Dibdin (an English writer who lives in Seattle but must spend lots of time in Italy) once again manages to capture the heart, soul and stomach of the region. Zen, whose personal life is gradually revealed and expanded in each book in the series, finds out several surprising things about being a father in this one. Previous Zen titles include Cosi Fan Tutti, Dead Lagoon, Ratking and Vendetta. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
After his adventures in "Cosi Fan Tutti", Aurelio Zen finds himself back in Rome, sneezing in a damp wine cellar and being given another unorthodox assignment - to release the jailed scion of an important wine-growing family.

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Long Finish, Michael Dibdin, 13 April 2005
By RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
Superb. If you've not read Dibdin, yet consider yourself a connoseur of crime fiction, you must rectify the situation: he's one of the greatest alive. No question.

A Long Finish is the sixth Zen, but do not start here. Go back to the beginning, to Ratking, and then simply chomp your way through the series, looking forward to this particular little gem (my favourite so far). In it we see Zen sent to Piedmont. He would be posted to Sicily, were it not for the influence of someone who wants a very important matter straightening out: the head of a wine-making family has been murdered, his son arrested and charged with the crime. The person-of-influence wants only one thing: the son released (innocent or not), so that the vines can be harvested and the year's vintage produced. Zen is the man for the job. So, off he goes, glad to escape the prospect of Sicily, a posting he has been dreading.

These Zen novels are brilliant. I've only discovered them in the past few months, but Dibdin's already become one of my new favourite authors (Rankin, Connelly, Dibdin, in the male-crime-writing stakes, probably). Zen is such a marvellous character, cunning and cynical, desperately self-serving at times, and yet (as she shows in this book), he has a sometimes-inconvenient (and foolish!) heart. He's witty, charming, sly, a unique creation.

Dibdin's writing suits his character perfectly: it too is cynical, sly, cunning, clever, and yet heart-felt. It's also, at times, hilarious (one characters eats in a restaurant and then "proceeded to damn the meal with praise so faint as to be virtually imperceptible").

I raced through this book in a day. The plot moves quickly (and is less convoluted than in his earliest Zen novels), the cahracters are fascinated and hugely entertaining, and the conclusion is, well, a triumph of restrained barbarism. I enjoyed it hugely. Hugely.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for crime lovers and wine lovers alike, 9 Jun 1999
By A Customer
The best Zen mystery to come out since Dead Lagoon, much more realistic and gripping that Cosi' Fan Tutti, which was too much of a farce. A Long Finish is full of atmosphere and evokes the small wine-growing community, with its superstitions, suspicions and sense of history. I rushed out to buy the book as soon as it was published, and was not disappointed. A great holiday read, but - to make a change - one that's also beautifully written and meticulouly researched.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Zen mystery, 20 May 1999
By A Customer
A dark and very gripping tale which keeps you guessing right up to the end. Dibdin's style may not suit everyone, but I would certainly recommend this book which really brings the characters and area to life. Whilest you get to know a great deal more about Zen himself (almost as interesting as the story as a whole), this doesn't detract at all from the other characters which are excellently developed often in a few sentences. All in all a very good book. I just wish I didn't read so fast. More soon please!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good one.....
This is another Aurelio Zen novel set in an Italian village which Zen is sent to. He is there to solve the mystery surrounding the murder of a famous wine-grower. Read more
Published 11 months ago by johnverp

3.0 out of 5 stars Aurelio Zen entangled in a web of deceit in the Piedmont
In 1944 Beppe Gallizio, aged 15, was stationed on the road from Alba to Acqui in the Piedmont with a simple-minded soldier called Angelin to watch for any passing fascisti. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2005 by Philippe Horak

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Pleasing to My Palatte
Didbin's series about Italian police detective Aurelio Zen has been popular for a number of years, but this sixth entry is the first I've read. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2005 by A. Ross

3.0 out of 5 stars First time reader of Michael Dibdin
as a first time reader of Michael Dibdin (and although being German, in general most attracted by the italian and the english way of life) I was rather fascinated by this novel... Read more
Published on 19 Nov 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars "A Long Finish" Zen among the vines
A vintner is found savagely slaughtered just before the harvest in his vinyard in rural Piedemont. His son is arrested for the crime. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 1999

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