Back to Bologna

July 24, 2006
In Gold Dagger–winner Dibdin's fine 10th Aurelio Zen mystery (after 2004's Mesuda
), the neurotic ace detective investigates the murder of Bologna millionaire entrepreneur Lorenzo Curti, who was found in his Audi impaled on a Parmesan cheese knife. Curti was not only the owner of Bologna's immensely popular football club but also part of a shady dairy conglomerate suspected of tax evasion. Meanwhile, bumbling PI Tony Speranza checks on the activities of Vincenzo Amadori, a high-flying socialite and soccer fan, whose prominent parents fret about his off-hours activities. In a comical subplot, Amadori's roommate, Rodolfo, a semiotics student, feuds with Edgardo Ugo ("Professor Ego" to his students), who's embroiled in a public cook-off contest with "Lo Chef," the star of a TV food show. This lively escapade casts modern Italy's many social and political problems in an amusing but realistic light.