Cabal - Hardcover

Dibdin, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385468067 ISBN 13: 9780385468060

Publisher: Doubleday, 1993

Synopsis

Hired to help cover up the circumstances surrounding the death of Prince Ludovico Ruspanti, who jumped or was pushed from the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, Aurelio Zen probes the activities of a secret organization known as "the Cabal"

About this title

Reviews

Emblematic of the many deceptions and misconceptions upon which the latest stylish Aurelio Zen mystery turn are the layered, radical fashions of a hot new Italian designer named Falco. Introduced in Ratking , Zen is an investigator for Rome's Criminalpol. He is called from the apartment of his mistress, Tania Biacis, when an Italian aristocrat falls to his death from the observation gallery at the top of St. Peter's Basilica. In the tricky position as liaison between the Vatican Curia and Roman police, Zen is willing to confirm the former's explanation that the death was suicide, even though his investigation points to murder. But a second killing, disguised as an accident, and an anonymous letter in the newspapers suggesting the aristocrat's involvement with "a sinister inner coterie" in the Knights of Malta called the Cabal, sets him on a different, tortuously intricate course. Trying to promote his own interests--in particular holding on to the independent, entrepreneurial Tania, who wears Falco designs--Zen interprets the mostly unspoken expectations of the Curia and civil authorities in both Rome and Milan, where he uncovers the puzzle's solution in an Austro-French palazzo belonging to the heirs of the Falcones, a wealthy textile family. The dramatic opening in St. Peter's and its secular echo at the end effectively frame Dibdin's masterful portrayal of the complexities of Zen himself and his ornate, bureaucratic milieu in this demanding, satisfying novel.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When called in by the Vatican to assist in the matter of Prince Ludovico Ruspanti's fatal tumble from one of St. Peter's balconies, Aurelio Zen (Vendetta, 1991, etc.) of the Criminalpol, loyal to the church, agrees with their verdict of suicide--though an anonymous letter to the press soon suggests otherwise, citing the Church's surveillance of the prince, as well as an evil cabal within the order of the Knights of Malta. Zen draws reprimands but, despite several interviews and sets of instructions, is still unclear what the Church and his police superiors want him to do. Meanwhile, supposedly secret computer files reveal little, though a document hidden among medieval manuscripts in the Vatican archives leads to another murder, more suspicions, and a rendezvous in Milan--where all the plots, counterplots, coverups, etc., tempt Zen to blackmail so he can support his lover Tania in the manner she'd like. Still, all the crimes end as they began--with a fall from a dome. Superb study of secular and lay politics, but, like those bodies, all comes tumbling down to a bad end in the mundane--in fact, maudlin--motive for it all. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Aurelio Zen, Dibdin's equivocal protagonist, investigates the spectacular "suicide" in St. Peter's of a nobleman tainted by financial corruption. In order to save the Vatican embarrassment, Zen overlooks evidence of murder, but after newspapers publish an anonymous tip implicating a mysterious "cabal," he pursues the matter further. Finely detailed surroundings lend authenticity to Zen's investigation of possible Church or underworld deception. Thoroughly Italian in setting and tone, and deeply foreboding, this suitably titled work should appeal to most readers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385468067
• ISBN 13: 9780385468060
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 241