Publisher's Synopsis
The first novel in Michael Dibdin's scintillating Aurelio Zen series and the winner of a Gold Dagger award
A powerful industrialist Ruggiero Miletti is kidnapped. Inspector Zen is transferred to Perugia to take over the case, but finds that there are many obstacles in his way. The local authorities see him as an interloper, and the victim's family, one of the most powerful in Italy, seems content to let Miletti languish in the hands of his abductors. Zen has crossed swords with the establishment before-and lost. Can he succeed this time?