Michael Dibdin · 1st Edition · Faber and Faber, London, 1988
Ratking introduced Aurelio Zen, the Venetian police commissioner who would become the hero of eleven novels. Sidelined at the Ministry of the Interior in Rome, Zen is sent to Perugia to handle the kidnapping of a powerful industrialist, and finds himself caught between a ruthless family, the local police and the political interests that tangle every investigation in Italy. The novel won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger. Although the first Zen book, it was Michael Dibdin's third novel; Dibdin (1947 to 2007) went on to write the series for nearly twenty years, and it was adapted for BBC television in 2011.
This is the first edition, published by Faber and Faber in 1988, in the original unclipped dust jacket illustrated by Irene von Treskow. First editions of Ratking are uncommon, and copies in Near Fine condition rarely appear.
Book Near Fine: binding firm and square; pages clean, with light, even age toning to the page block, as is typical of Faber paper of this period. A single small marker circle, about the size of a dime, appears on the inside cover; there are no other markings, inscriptions, bookplates or stains. Dust jacket Near Fine, unclipped, with minimal handling wear; protected in an archival Mylar cover.
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