Cosi Fan Tutti: An Aurelio Zen Mystery, Book 5

Complex plot and delicious writing serving up great characters in hilarity and drama. Michael Kitchen's narration is the superb.

Michael Kitchen is a wonderful reader, he pronounces the Italian words sprinkled through the story beautifully. He has just the right balance of lightness and irony for the character of Aurelio Zen, the disillusioned Italian detective. This story is playing off the opera Cosi Fan Tutte, with the characters of the story having similar experiences to those in the opera.

I am a big Michael Dibdin/Aurelio Zen fan, and this book has a decidedly different, more playful style than the other books. That is not to say it is not as good, it doesn't have the more serious tone that the other stories do. It is a nice change for Zen.

Michael Kitchen has a wonderful voice, pronounces the Italian words expertly, and has just the right tone of irony that is required for the Aurelio Zen series.

This book was very entertaining and funny, I highly recommend it to fans of Aurelio Zen and those who enjoy lighthearted detective stories.

I give it 5 stars all around!

Yes, I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good story told by a great voice artist like Michael Kitchen.

The plot is down right fun.

Mr Kitchen is as good as ever. Besides I love his Folye's War series. He is certainly a great actor. Forget someone like Tom Cruse reading this. Kitchen is the consummate leading character actor at the top of his game. He appears to be having great fun with the various voices. I envy such talent.

One can really appreciate this story when you find a quiet place, a cup of hot chocolate, and no interruptions. It is not hard to "get into" this story. I will wait a month or two and hear it again.

What's not to like about Zen? He loves his mother, treats women with respect and catches the bad guys. Michael Dibdin I miss your kind of writting.

We were introduced to this author though the BBC, and that Zen is such an unusual character, not typical, moral in his own way, sincere, with a backbone, and very clever. THIS IS NOT THAT ZEN. It is much more police-corrupt-lazy cop, and so it is a huge disappointment. I forced myself through 1 1/2 hours, then let go and went on. Possibly I will give it another try when I am not thinking it is like the BBC series, WHICH IS EXCELLENT, but I doubt it.

The narrator is the best. He makes the Italian voices different and fun. He has just the right touch for this fairly humorous Zen episode. His narration is a bit slow, but his delivery helps you enjoy all the nuances of the authors prose, especially the dialog.

The plot was a tad confusing with lots of digressions, but that seemed intentional in this parody of Mozart's opera. This is not a book for someone who wants a straight detective mystery.

I've listened to one other Michael Kitchen performance. He is just superlative always.

I haven't read the print edition. The audio edition was wonderful largely because of Michael Kitchen's narration.

Aurelio Zen of course. He is by far the most developed, and in spite of some slightly shady practices, he is very sympathetic. He has a lot of insight, empathy and, in the end, works to see justice done.

He has a lovely voice. He manages to use it create a huge array of different characters.

No. I read it in 1-2 hour chunks while hiking, and smaller chunks while driving. I think hearing it in one sitting would have been too much.

Dibdin is a very fine writer. His mysteries are engaging and his descriptions of Italy are marvellously evocative. This particular story was tied to the plot of Cosi Fan Tutti, which made it a bit artificial. I liked the other Zen stories I've read or listened to better. But it was definitely worthwhile. And the narration was wonderful.

Fine writing with humor in the style of Tom Sharpe. Maybe not as good as he, but who is? There's a Shakespearean type finale when all the characters gather on stage to resolve questions and reveal surprises. There's even an ending soliloquy by Zen on the mysteries of life. My only criticism is that the main character is a bit more of a bumbler than I like in crime novels.