Michael Dibdin is Dead
The author Michael Dibdin has passed away following a brief illness.
The creator of Aurelio Zen enjoyed some popularity with readers and also amongst collectors.
His first book, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, was a Sherlockian parody and is a rare first edition book today, still holding a reasonably high value.
He was best known for his main series character Aurelio Zen who made his debut in Ratking.
Michael Dibdin spent some years teaching in Italy which gave him the background and colour that set his Aurelio Zen mysteries apart from much of the competition
Interest in collecting the original first edition books began to calm a few years ago, in fairness, a fate suffered by many of the modern crime fiction writers.
The books are still sought by collectors though and his reading base remains strong I believe.
He was always willing to sign both his latest books and earlier first editions for book dealers, something for which I remain grateful.
After he began to enjoy the rewards of his writing career he moved to Oxford before decamping to America where he passed away on 30 March 2007.
