The Dying of the Light

By Michael Dibdin

Book Overview

One of England's most acclaimed younger mystery writers, the creator of Detective Aurelio Zen, gives us a brilliant and haunting variation on the classic drawing-room murder novel. The setting is Eventide Lodge, where the guests have gathered for tea. Colonel Weatherby is reading by the fire. Mrs. Hargreave III is whiling away her time at patience. And Miss Rosemary Travis and her friend, Dorothy, are wondering which of their housemates will be the next to die. For even as Michael Dibdin's elderly sleuths debate clues and motives, it becomes clear that Eventide Lodge is not a genteel country inn but a place of ghastly cruelties and humiliations. A place where the logic of murder is . . .almostcomforting. At once affectionate homage and audacious satire,The Dying of the Lightwill delight any aficionado of Patricia Highsmith, Peter Dickinson, or Ruth Rendell.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067943075X
• ISBN13: 9780679430759
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Pantheon
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Quick Read of Immense Images

Michael Dibdin's 'The Dying of the Light' is a short, contrived, sometimes brutal little mystery, but it shines beautifully within all the aforementioned characteristics. It is just the write length, the contrived plot is what makes it tick, and the brutality, though shocking and disdainful, sticks in your mind long after the book has been closed, leaving an indelible mark. The novel starts out with Rosemary and Dorothy, two old ladies who are friends at what we believe to be something of a manor house, or possibly an old-fashioned hotel? At any rate, the story begins with a list of stock murder mystery suspects reminiscent of the golden-age crime capers. They are all gathered in a cozy lounge, and we believe Rosemary and Dorothy to be our sleuths. Soon, however, events unfold, and we discover that we have been tricked by the sly author, Dibdin. The awful, creeping realization of where exactly our two old ladies are, and what is transpiring there, is the first of many chilling plot twists that take place. Many mysterious and even horrible things begin to happen once the book gets going, and our two elderly heroins *do* become sleuths (sort of), and some of the other characters peppering the book make for good adversaries. As I said earlier, it is all somewhat contrived, but as long as you just go along with it, you should have a bracing read. Some parts of novel are intense, some parts slightly comical, but *every* part is of interest. If you have a nice, solitary evening free, draw the curtains, dim the lights, and settle-in for 'The Dying of the Light'. It is a mystery of a different kind.

Brilliantly dark humor with a focus on relationships

Dibdin is, in my opinion, what the mystery genre needs; a quality literature writer who happens to use mystery as an excuse to tell his story. His humor is deliciously dark and at times shocking. What sets him apart is his focus on relationships. The solution to the mystery is not nearly as important as how the characters interact. Dibdin deserves much more respect than we Americans have given him. Dibdin is what mystery should be. I also recommend the Aurelio Zen series for a "detective" with a distinctly melancholy personality.