I thought I’d catch up with the books I’ve read recently.
I’m quite a Michael Dibdin fan, and this is the latest Zen novel. He spoke to James Naughtie on the Radio 4 programme, Bookclub recently, and you can hear the conversation here (with Realplayer). On that occasion he spoke about Blood Rain which is set in Sicily. But this entry in the series is, as the title indicates, in Bologna where Zen is sent to investigate the mysterious death of a football club owner. Things aren’t simple of course, and there’s a ridiculous subplot involving a singing chef. Maybe they really have such things in Italy?
Anyhow, this probably isn’t the most serious book in the series with a ridiculous character who’s a not-veiled-at-all Umberto Eco character (his name’s Professor Ugo and he too works in semiotics).
But all said and done I enjoyed the novel, and if what Dibdin told Naughtie is true, then there should be plenty more episodes with Zen to come.