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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780375704017
ISBN number: 0375704019
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: February 29, 2000
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: February 29, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 138704
Studio: Vintage
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
From the award-winning author of Ratking and Dead Lagoon comes a delicious new Aurelio Zen mystery in which wine and truffles figure as prominently as greed and vengence.
When the son of a Piedmontese wine-making family is jailed for killing his father, Aurelio Zen is ordered to secure his release. The reason: A certain well-connected wine connoisseur wants to make sure that this year's vintage goes to harvest.
In the hill town of Alba, Zen finds himself in the midst of a traditional culture in which family and soil are inextricablt linked, bombarded with gossip, and stalked by a mysterious telephone caller with tantalizing clues to his past. He also discovers that certain meals may really be to die for. A Long Finish is Michael Dibdin at his most elegant and surprising.
Amazon.com 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 sucess 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 favorite 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 encounters: Cosi Fan Tutti, Dead Lagoon, Ratking, Vendetta. --Dick Adler
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Rated by buyers 
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Michael Dibdin, who unfortunately died last year, has written a series of Aurelio Zen mysteries, all of which are excellent. Well-written, great main character, interesting plots and supporting players. "A Long Finish" is a great suspense story involving parallel pursuits. Zen in pursuing a killer, and a killer is pursuing Zen. To complicate it, a jealous husband has hired an inept detective to follow Zen, too. Throughout Zen fantasizes about an intriguing female detective who has caught his romantic/sexual attention and worries about his apparently senile mother. Zen is a deep character who keeps us interested in everything he does and thinks.
Rated by buyers 
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Michael Dibdin has written several Aurelio Zen mysteries, and this one is yet another encounter with strange situations and even stranger characters. An Italian police detective, Zen is generally at odds with his superiors and suffering some kind of punishment for it, but he always gets the job done.
In this offering, there's an especially nasty murder of a renowned vintner in the Piedmont area of Italy, and Zen accepts a private contract to solve it. The reasons behind that are bizarre enough, but the investigation takes several interesting turns, including two more murders. Everyone else is convinced that the crimes were committed by the same person, but there doesn't seem to be a motive that connects them.
When Aurelio arrives in the village of Alba, he's not at his best by any means. Adding to the misery of his personal life, he's being stalked by someone and appears to have been attacked in his sleep. Everyone he interviews about the initial murder tells him a great deal about everything but the murder, and it becomes clear that the villagers know who did it, but aren't going to say.
Dibdin is fun to read, and it's interesting to see Italy de-romanticized. The Italian beauty is there, but the point of view in this book is that of working class people who make their living from the wine and truffles. And of course, of Zen, who will soon be doomed to a "promotion" that takes him to Sicily. Sounds like there's another Zen novel on the way.
Rated by buyers -
This was my very first encounter with Aurelio Zen. I'm not sure if this is comic writing with a mystery touch, or a crime mystery with a large dose of humour. Either way, the combination works very well. There is one laugh-out-loud scene where Zen is briefing his colleagues and no one has the slghtest idea what he is banging on about. If you enjoy detective novels but need a break from world-weary noir types or omnicompetent pathologists/historians/ computer geeks, then Zen will provide a refreshing change. Like the film Sideways, this is a work that wine fans will get more out of.
Rated by buyers -
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. Just before dying in an ambush, Angelin dug up a truffle in a nearby field.
After the war, Beppe returned to the place and his secret hoard of white truffles allowed him to make a good living until Aldo Vincenzo decided to put up a barbed wire around his property to protect his vineyard since his wine was slowly acquiring a reputation.
Then the prices for la trifola went through the roof and the truffle became to be known as the "white diamond" so Beppe had to take extra precaution in order that his annual harvesting remained secret. But one night a man saw Beppe in the dark and his dog Anna barked at him...
When Dottor Aurelio Zen is summoned to the Palazzo Torozzo, house of a famous director called "Giulio", Aldo Vincenzo is dead and his son Manlio is in prison, accused of having murdered his father. Since Giulio is an eager wine collector and this year's harvest at the Vincenzo estate is likely to be one of the greatest of the century, Giulio has arranged with the Ministry of the Interior for Zen to be sent to the gloomy city of Alba in order to release Manlio Vincenzo from prison in time to make the wine this year! And that is going to be far less easy than Zen had anticipated...
Another sympathetic glance at Italy by Michael Dibdin, this time allowing the reader to cast a glance at the secrets of winemaking.
Rated by buyers -
A glass of nice Cabernet Merlot would go well with this, the sixth Aurelio Zen novel, set in a wine-growing region of Piedmont in northern Italy.
Dibdin creates interesting characters. Zan's psychology is getting darker and more brooding as his relationships with others become more brittle.
As with all the Zen series, I recommend reading them in order. Previous cases are discussed, and the supporting cast of characters, as well as Zen, change and develop.
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