Così Fan Tutti

Aurelio Zen #5

by Michael Dibdin

Michael Dibdin's overburdened Italian police inspector has been transferred to Naples, where the rule of law is so lax that a police station may double as a brothel. But this time, having alienated superiors with his impolitic zealousness in every previous posting, Zen is determined not to make waves.

Too bad an American sailor (who may be neither American nor a sailor) knifes one of his opposite numbers in Naples's harbor, and some local garbage collectors have taken to moonlighting in homicide. And when Zen becomes embroiled in a romantic intrigue involving love-sick gangsters and prostitutes who pass themselves off as Albanian refugees, all Naples comes to resemble the set of the Mozart opera of the same title. Bawdy, suspenseful, and splendidly farcical, the result is an irresistible offering from a maestro of mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Italy, Italian Literature, Detective, Zen

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Michael Dibdin was born in 1947. He went to school in Northern Ireland, and later to Sussex University and the University of Alberta in Canada. He lived in Seattle. After completing his first novel, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, in 1978, he spent four years in Italy teaching English at the University of Perugia. His second novel, A Rich Full Death, was published in 1986. It was followed by Ratking in 1988, which won the Gold Dagger Award for the Best Crime Novel of the year and introduced us to his Italian detective - Inspector Aurelio Zen.

Dibdin was married three times, most recently to the novelist K. K. Beck. His death in 2007 followed a short illness.

Series:
* Aurelio Zen

Reviews

[Antigone · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this, the fifth installment of the Aurelio Zen mysteries, Michael Dibdin tries his hand at farce.

Criminapol's Detective Zen has put in for a transfer to Naples, taking a demotion a hair's breath before his superiors can inflict one upon him. In a city known for its rampant corruption (there's a working brothel on the top floor of the police station), Zen plans to keep his head down, his nose clean, and his days free of intrigue. He makes only the most infrequent and desultory visits to his office, preferring to relax at home, lunch in the local cafes and attend the occasional evening soiree - which is where he meets a fascinating woman with two daughters in need of rescuing from their mafia boyfriends. What this has to do with a knifing at the port and a gang of homicidal garbage men who have decided on a more literal interpretation of the government's desire to clean up the streets will come clear in time.

I'm not a fan of farce, and while Naples makes an excellent venue for a Marx Brothers' romp, I found I missed the gravity given over to honest detection. As a character, Zen already rides a bold line of satiric resignation. Pushing him into a landscape of operatic dimension simply didn't work for me.

[Silvio111 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not finished this one yet; I am half way through, but I think this may be my least favorite ZEN mystery. (I am a hopeless fan; I am working my way through them all...)

This plot runs parallel to the famous opera, "COSE FAN TUTTE." I think the opera title refers to a female "tutte" ("all"); as in "Women are all like that;" whereas the book title has been altered ("TUTTI") to refer to the masculine, or inclusive, as in truly everybody, not just all women. Forgive my mangled Italian translation; I am not fluent.

The chapter headings are taken from the libretto in Italian; Dibdin translates them (in his own way) into English for the Table of Contents.

All very interesting and amusing, but a bit too contrived for me to focus on the mystery. Dibdin has a curious sense of humor, and there are moments in the book where I did burst out laughing, in spite of being alone in my house. This bodes well for an amusing book. I will reserve final judgement until I finish the book.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Later: Just finished the book. I take back everything I said. The plot is a sublimely amusing farce; equal to anything from Shakespeare, as regards mistaken identity, obsessive infatuation, secret plots coming to fruition, and even Zen's poor mother. A very entertaining book; much lighter reading than most of the other Zen novels. IN this one at least he does not get his heart broken; he mostly stays above the fray, although I don't think I am spoiling anything by mentioning that he does end up in a garbage dump!
Highly recommended; just a slow starter.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you just relax at the beginning and accept that this is going to be silly, then it's really a lot of fun. I read it on trains between Linz and Vienna and it made me smile. And also made me think about similarities between Dibdin's Italy and my Austria. I laughed a few times, too. The themes addressed in the more serious Zen books are still here, but I guess the biggest one is "Who are the real criminals?" I mean, are all the corrupt things like bootlegs of designer gear and video games, really so terrible? Or in this kind of abstract, fantasy version of prostitution where all the pimps and drugs are mysteriously absent from the equation, and so it really is a victim less crime... And I think Dibdin is asking that in the previous books too, with corruption and Zen's own willingness to bend and break rules as well as the realistic motivation to "close the case" as opposed to actually catching the bad guy. Discovering the truth is just a by product of trying to make a believable story for the officials. So that kind of cops are not the good guys, crooks are not the bad guys thing is in all of them. The bigger criminal operators, like politicians and mafia bosses, aren't bad because of the operations they're involved in (except when they regrettably have to murder someone) but because of the scale of the operation. If they were just committing crimes to pay the bills and occasionally taste the dolce vita it would all be fine. But they had to get greedy.

The opera is referenced throughout, but Dibdin has cranked the silliness up with way more characters and a lot more disguises and mistaken identities so that even in the case of Zen himself we don't really know who is a cop and who is a gangster or if maybe cops are just a different kind of gangster. Actually, there are some terrorists too, so you don't know if the terrorists are cops or gangsters, etc. But they are all likeable. Essentially, every character in the opera is doubled.

Although it takes place in a city, and no one is doing any crafts or cooking, this is more or less a cozy mystery. Violence is mostly off-screen, so to speak, except in a cartoonish opening that is meant to make it clear that this is not intended to be realistic. There is plenty of romance, or rather, sexual tension, like the opera. So just something for laughs, a good way to pass the time as I sped past the home of the real life dungeon dad at 200 kilometers an hour.

[Alan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most successful of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen novels but an interesting experiment. Loosely based around the plot of Mozart's similarly named opera, the plot is similarly farcical. Zen, never the most dedicated of policemen, is here a lazy, work-shy bumbler who rarely seems to know what is going on and at times the plot became so convoluted that I shared his bemusement. But there is enough here to make the book worthwhile and some laugh out loud moments such as the taxi driver who interprets American-English to Italian despite her only English being Cockney dialect.

[Judy Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Br önceki kitap Ölü Lagün çok mutsuzdu, Cosi Fan Tutti ise Napoli'de geçen bir Dormen oyunu tadındaydı. O kadar karakter vardı ki zaman zaman kafam karıştı.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one. It was exactly the pick-me-up I needed after Dead Lagoon, which was depressing. I'm not at all familiar with the opera, but this book made me think of a Shakespearean comedy, especially the dénouement.

[Bahar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dört dörtlük bir fars yazmış Dibdin, okurken çoķ eğlendim.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the least satisfactory Aurelio Zen i have read. Here we see Zen with little integrity, turning his back on responsibility, accepting and entering into the corrupt and inefficient world of crime and policing in Naples. There's not much appealing about Zen's character in this book.
The Cosi Fan Tutti theme is far too complicated to sustain and the whole plot goes up in the air in the end, like coloured paper shapes.
I think it is time for me to move to books about Italy written by Italians, not English or American bestselling authors.

[Pınar Bacı · Rating 3 out of 5]

Açık ara en eğlenceli Zen macerasiydi. Bulunduğu her şehrin karakterine bürünen ve hayat deneyimini bu yolla oluşturan komiserimiz Napoli'de gerçek bir Akdenizli olmanin tadını çıkardı ve o tatlı tembellikle de işlerin çözülebileceğini anladı. Hikaye Napoli nasılsa öyleydi:)

[Booklivion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ο Ζεν ο οποίος, πιστός στο επίθετό του, θέλει την ηρεμία του, έχει αριβάρει για Νάπολη γιατί κάποια τζιριτζάντζουλα παίχτηκε με κάποιον στο τρίτο βιβλίο. Χωρίς γκομενάκι πλέον και με την μανούλα, ολίγον ραμολί, πίσω στην Ρώμη να γκρινιάζει, προσπαθεί να κάνει όσο λιγότερη δουλειά μπορεί με όσο το δυνατόν λιγότερο κόπο. Και τα καταφέρνει, βολτάρωντας στα καντούνια της Νάπολη, μέχρι που, ως γνωστός γκαντέμης, τα σουλάτσα σταματούν και οι αναποδιές και τα ευτράπελα έρχονται μπροστά του σαν ντόμινο το ένα μετά το άλλο! Γιατί καλή και η ντόλτσε βίτα αλλά έχει και μια καριέρα.

Κάπως έτσι μπλέκεται σε διάφορα ντράβαλα και ξεκινάνε τα νταραβέρια λίγο με την μαφία, λίγο με κάτι μπαγαμπόντηδες, λίγο με μια καπάτσα που του κάνει κόρτε απροκάλυπτα (γιατί μπορεί να μην είναι πια τζόβενο αλλά μαγκιόρο και λεβέντη τον λες), λίγο με έναν Έλληνα ναύτη που σπατσάρισε, λίγο με έναν Αμερικανό ναύτη που έχει μυαλό κουκούτσι και κάνει την μια μπούρδα μετά την άλλη, έρχεται κάποια στιγμή και το τρίο φωτιά (μανούλα, πρώην σύζυγος, πρώην αμόρε) και γενικά δεν περνάει και φίνα! Την σκαπουλάρει με μαεστρία, βέβαια, γιατί υπάρχουν κι άλλα βιβλία!

Μου άρεσε περισσότερο αυτό το βιβλίο από το προηγούμενο που είχα διαβάσει (το δεύτερο της σειράς). Η πλοκή ήταν πιο σβέλτη όπως επίσης και οι δεύτεροι χαρακτήρες πιο ενδιαφέροντες. Δεν πέταξα και την σκούφια μου με το φινάλε· μου φάνηκε κάπως βιαστικό αλλά δεν βαριέσαι.. διασκεδαστικό ήταν.

[Bruno Bouchet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dead Lagoon was the first Zen mystery I read and I can see why Dibdin went in this direction for Cosi Fan Tutti. Looking back, Dead Lagoon was pretty grim and miserable both in weather and mood. Clearly Dibdin wanted some fun for the next book and he certainly has it with this. The plot of opera is quite cleverly updated and interwoven into the book and the opening is beautifully cinematic in it's following of the garbage truck. You don’t really need to know the opera to spot the operatic like qualities of the plot - sisters, lovers, disguises, tricks to test fidelity. It’s interesting that the central character from a very serious book can suddenly be transported into what is effectively a comedy, and a farce at that. I whipped through it (good reading when you’re stuck at home with a terrible cold as I was) but I can’t help feeling comedy and farce are not Dibdin’s strongest suits. It was all just a little too forced and the final scenes too reminiscent of a comic opera pastiche. But clearly the author is having a rollicking time, and it is infectious. You just have to go along for the ride and enjoy it for what it is. What remains to be seen is whether Zen can return to be a serious character in the next book.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Dibdin was an exceptional writer. His writing skill is matched by his encyclopaedic knowledge of Italy in all its locales, and also in depth of vocabulary. He must have been quite an amazing man, very far-seeing, very perceptive.
The Aurelio Zen (an actual Venetian family name) character is complex, not particularly heroic, with many romantic illusions about women, but intelligent. He alternately uses the labyrinthine Italian bureaucracy and is victimised by it. Often, his successes are nebulous, laced with failure.
Dibdin has dual strengths: his characters are exceedingly well developed but his description of the setting, its food and culture as well as its geography, is equally thorough. Each Zen novel is set in a different locale of Italy, so the travelogue factor is well served.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Aurelio Zen
SETTING: Naples
SERIES: #1
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Aurelio Zen transfers from Rome to lead a squad in Naples. He does everything he can to avoid any actual work and makes a deal with the team that he will pretty much let them do things they want to if they cover for him. That actually works out quite well for all concerned. There’s a homicide that needs investigating, standard stuff. A fun secondary plot has Zen helping a woman who hates the two men that her daughters are seeing and thinks they are up to no good. Zen concocts a plot to test the relationships that involves some Albanian prostitutes. A fortuitous incident in the homicide case occurs when Zen ends up in the wrong end of a garbage truck but becomes a hero without doing anything heroic. The humor in the book makes it enjoyable. It was fun seeing how Zen avoided responsibility.

[Mary Lou Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the start of this book, I loved it. Typical Michael Dibdin style of writing, sharp and clear. And I would say as a whole, I enjoyed this book. However, I'm having trouble with his role as slacker. I also found the plot somewhat convuluted and a bit difficult to keep straight. Still, I give it 4 stars because I enjoy his writing style.

[Kat V · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like we’re back on track here and this one is going to be good. Unfortunately it was incredibly convoluted and not all that interesting. 2.7 stars

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Everybody in Naples is more or less a gangster, my dear. It's a question of degree."

Zen again. Così fan tutti (1996) is my fifth novel by Michael Dibdin featuring the unconventional, unpredictable, and often unlucky police inspector Aurelio Zen. This time the plot takes us to Naples (the Italian name Napoli - coming from Greek Neapolis - sounds much better, of course), and is closely based on motifs from Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto to Mozart's famous opera buffa Così fan tutte. Note the one-letter difference in spelling of the titles - tutte is feminine while tutti masculine - the substitution is not insignificant for the novel!

Zen is posted to a lowly job of a harbor detail commander in Naples. He tries very hard not to do much in his new job and avoids any involvement in police work, which suits his subordinates fine since they are busy running various lucrative businesses, including a brothel, from the police station. Meanwhile, crime keeps happening in the city: local businessmen disappear, literally treated as garbage by sanitation crews. Zen is supposed to work on the case of Greek sailors knifed in the port by an American counterpart, but he does not exhibit much diligence, instead helping a middle-aged widow arrange an intrigue that aims at breaking her two daughters' infatuation with local hoodlums (this thread of the plot borrows heavily from the opera's libretto).

The romantic intrigue is purely farcical, and the crime-related components of the plot are not the main focus of the story. The author is at his best providing a biting, satirical look at Naples' local character, proving again his superb observation skills and smooth writing. This layer of the novel is also truly hilarious - just imagine the situation when the police force, mourning their comrade fallen in action, are so extreme in their grief that even the whorehouse operating on the police station premises needs to be temporarily closed.

The operatic ending of the novel offers a truly clever denouement. Readers who - unlike myself - like plot twists will love the avalanche of surprises. Revelation are stacked upon revelations, and most of them actually do make sense.

While a lightweight and broad farce, Così fan tutti is a well written, funny, and readable book.

Three stars.

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

So funky. I'll write more in a couple days. Jet lag is a harsh and unforgiving mistress.
___________________

- Robert Farwell / Edward Jones library / Mesa, AZ 2014

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely read mysteries, but this was a fun summer escape in preparation for a real fall escape. I'd never heard of the author before, but in his genre he appears to be quite well known and respected.

The book drips with sarcasm about human vanities and political machinations. Inside jokes based on sibling rivalry of the northern versus southern regions of Italy piqued my interest. There's much more that pasta to learn about this fascinating country.

The plotline touches various and sundry forms of love (of course, given the title), loyalty, and survival in a country whose politics is governed by conniving minds and greased palms. Perhaps this is an insight into what America will become in the next decades. I hope not.

The final chapter, written in present tense, reads like a modern Opera Buffa

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable Aurelio Zen story, even if not much of a mystery. With a plot the parallels the well known opera, and many comic scenes, this is, perhaps, an atypical Zen story. However, there is so much to enjoy here that being cheated a bit on the mystery is nothing to worry about.

My favorite scene involved non-English speaking Zen trying to interrogate an American through the use of a Neopolitan woman whose British dialect was so thick that she, a) had difficulty understanding the Venetian Zen, b) confused the American with her Brit slang. A truly top notch comic scene.

Well worth your time and it may encourage you to listen to the opera, tool.

[Mary Helene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wikipedia review called the Aurelio Zen series dark. Oddly, I find him hilariously funny and, in this particular novel, Shakespearean, especially in the conclusion, which feels as if it were the libretto of an opera. I so enjoyed it.
(later: how embarrassing! from other reviews I discover the plot is indeed based on the opera by the same name, and so no wonder the ending felt like a libretto! It was one!)

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this book with less than 50 pages left to read. I enjoyed the TV movies based on Dibdin's Zen mysteries, so i thought i would enjoy the books. Man, what a disappointment. The novel starts out witty and interesting and slowly degenerates into a boring, unfocused mess. There is no momentum to the story, and Dibdin tries hard to be clever and unusual, but just turns out confusing and irritating. I think this may be a rare case where the film adaptations are superior to the books.

[Lauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Michael. I love how clever you are, how you put in small plot elements that I forget about until they come up to surprise me much later in the book and add to the complexity of the case; how Aurelio is a good man despite himself... but. Sigh. This one was just too silly in the end. Like a parody of an Aurelio Zen book. And it started with such promise. I'll keep reading, but hope this is an anomaly.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Aurelio Zen mystery I've read although it probably won't be the last. (Michael Dibdin, sadly, died in 2007). Set in Naples, this book is a bit of a tour-de-force as it is loosely based on the Mozart opera of the same name, but updated to modern-day Italy. Quite enjoyable.

[Nathanielk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts strong, but degenerates into farce as Dibdin tries to cram his crime plot into a re-telling of the opera of the same name.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naples. In the form of the opera. Zen. Bad guys. Near death. Nothing is as usual. As usual.

[Peter Parziale · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only finished this book because I was on a backpacking trip and had limited reading material. I really wanted to like it: the author had won the Golden Dagger Award (of which I was heretofore unaware). It's set in Naples, the city of my forbears. It's one of a series of books featuring police bigshot Aurelio Zen. (An Italian named Zen -- I guess it's not unusual for authors to invent names that make their protagonist stand out from the crowd.) So if it's a series, *someone* must think it's pretty good.

That someone is not me.

The chapters each have titles ...in Italian. Sure, the translations are in the first pages of the book, but why the affectation? In an ending note, we find out that the phrases come from the opera Cosi Fan Tutti...ahhh, now I understand! Except that it also states that "cosi fan tutti" doesn't easily translate to English. So, then why go that way, author Dibdin? Enigmatic for the sake of being enigmatic?

The story is convoluted. I won't give spoilers, but the many, many different threads are forced to come together because the book has to end somehow, I suppose. Let's see if I can remember some of them: (1) There's the murder of an American serviceman (or not) whose solution is very, VERY important. (2) There's the stolen new video game, worth gazillion$. (3) There are the sisters who are engaged to gangsters, and Zen is concerned about this (why?). (4) There are the missing mafia and political guys, and that solution is very, VERY important. (5) There is the theft of Zen's wallet, which introduces a mind-reader. (6) Wouldn't you know it, there is some super-secret, super-powerful independent Italian police force *also* operating in Naples. I'm sure I missed something.

The setting is in a crime-full city with mafia and political bosses pulling the strings of every little event in the town. Yet a taxi driver can distribute photos of a suspect, and make inquiries...but he doesn't end up swimming with the fishes? If there is any imaginable problem, Zen goes to the taxi driver to fix it -- this driver is a magician, and thank God he gave Zen a locater device just in case Zen should go missing. . The mom goes missing, yet Zen gives this barely a thought? (I don't think this is a spoiler) One of a pair of prostitutes is a transvestite, but nobody know s this, evidently including her partner, until the very end of the book? There are garbage men running very big orange trucks around the city well after the Neapolitan workday ends, but nobody -- nobody! -- notices this incongruity?

Nah, this book is a terrible mystery, and I won't be reading this author again.

[Paul Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Aurelio Zen mystery I have read (though not the first in the series). The style of the book, like that of its central character, could be described as laconic. Zen has been transferred, at his own request, to a dead end job in Naples, where he tries to keep his head down. Unwittingly he gets involved in two official investigations - a brawl in the Port leading to a death; and an unknown group who seem to have taken literally an official campaign to clean up the streets of Naples by removing some corrupt officials and gangsters.

He also gets caught up in an intrigue of his own making involving his landlady, her two daughters and the two reprobates who are trying to woo them. Add into the mix a dodgy taxi driver, two prostitutes who are not what they seem and various other shady or eccentric characters. It all builds to a resolution worthy of a Brian Rix (showing my age) farce. Great fun.

[Martin Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Dibdin, who passed away in 2007, wrote 11 Zen novels and they are all a delight. After I read somewhere fairly heavy, I like to turn to something lighter and on occasion, something I have read before. The Zen series, like the Parker series by Stark (Westlake) and the Flashman series, is one I return too.

Cosi Fan Tutti is my favorite of the Zen novels. Zen is an Italian police officer who is constantly battling superiors and the facts of Itlaian life--political, social, and criminal. Dibdin is excellent at describing Italian culture and has a writing style that is engaging and frequently wry. This book is a play on the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte, and is filled with very colorful characters. And the plot twists--you just have to read it to appreciate it.

[Ronald Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea. I guess I started with the wrong Aurelio Zen book as in this one he plays a passive and lazy role. I like my detectives to be more forthright (Harry Bosch, Harry Hole, Bernie Gunther, Lincoln Rhyme, Reacher etc etc)

Trying to combine the light confectionery of the operatic plot with the seriousness of a mafia murder enquiry did neither strand any favours. And there were too many characters - some of them with more than one name - for me to keep track of. Oh - and the occasional untranslated Italian or Neapolitan sentence to keep things obscure.

I have friends who are Dibdin fans so I may give him another chance.

[Salla-Maria L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olin lähdössä oopperaan, joten mikäs sopivampaa kuin napata Dibdinin Cosi Fan Tutti matkalukemiseksi - sehän mukailee samannimistä Mozartin oopperaa. En ole tainnut lukea näitä Aurelio Zen -dekkareita aikaisemmin, mutta tämä oli kyllä ihan hyvää ajankulua ja pidin Zenin sopivalla tavalla välinpitämättömästä (omaehtoisesta?) elämänasenteesta. Erikoinen, kepeä, vitsikäs ja merkillinen tarina vei Napolin kujille, monimutkaisten ihmissuhteiden ja hyvän elämän tavoittelun äärelle. Välillä kyllä tipahtelin juonenkäänteistä, mutta sekin sopi minusta tyylilajiin. Lopulta tarina tuntui kuitenkin vähän kirjailijan hulluttelulta tai genrekokeilulta, ja siksi vain kolme tähteä.