348 393 9028: MEDUSA. He keyed in the number, then turned to face the hillside behind the villa. When a group of Austrian cavers in the Italian Alps come across human remains at the bottom of a deep shaft, everyone assumes the death was accidental - until the body is stolen from the morgue and the Defence Ministry puts a news blackout on the case.

'Escapism of a high order.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'A slyly intelligent page turner.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

AN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY

When a group of Austrian cavers in the Italian Alps come across human remains at the bottom of a deep shaft, everyone assumes the death was accidental - until the still unidentified body is stolen from the morgue and the Defence Ministry puts a news blackout on the case. The whole affair has the whiff of political intrigue.

That's enough to interest Aurelio Zen's boss at the Interior Ministry, who wants to know who is hiding what from who and why. The search for the truth leads Zen into the murky history of post-war Italy and obscure corners of modern-day society to uncover the truth about a crime that everyone thought was as dead and buried as the victim.

'As the plot quickens, we are soon deep in Dibdin's favourite territory: the murky political conflicts of Italy's past and the oily chicanery of its present.' SUNDAY TIMES
'Dibdin's misanthropic wit finds plenty to play with.' GUARDIAN

'A terrific detective story.' 5* reader review
'Beautifully written . . . You get a real sense of the turbulence in the Italian state during that era.' 5* reader review
'MEDUSA is the best I've read so far, with a complex but pleasing plot.' 5* reader review

PRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:
'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN
'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES
'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN
'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT
'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR
'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell
'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER
'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review
'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review
'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review
'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review