Zen

Rufus Sewell (Middlemarch, Dark City) is Aurelio Zen, a Venetian-born detective in Rome who wears Armani and lives with his mother. Based on the bestselling novels by British crime writer Michael Dibdin, seen on Masterpiece Mystery!, all three episodes are witty, sexy, and eminently watchable— tales of political corruption, Mafia wrongdoing, and aristocratic entitlement set against the backdrop of Rome and the Italian countryside. Includes Vendetta, Cabal, and Ratking. 4 . hrs, 2 discs.

Zen is sent to a remote village to re-investigate a murder, which may spark a political scandal.

 

Playboy Umberto Ruspanti falls from a bridge, an apparent suicide, but minister Colonna asks Zen to investigate and he finds the dead man's flat was ransacked. His last diary entry read AOC and his nervous lawyer tells Zen he was trying to make much-needed cash from a valuable and illegal sale. Later Zen is approached by the fugitive Massimo, fleeing the powerful and illicit right wing group the Cabal, whom, he claims, killed Umberto. At the funeral Zen meets a glamorous call girl with important information.

With Moscati invalided out, Zen gets a new boss: icy, unsmiling Heuber, who regards Zen as a maverick and tells him so. Thus he is not pleased when Colonna again asks for Zen's intervention in rescuing kidnap victim Ruggiero Miletti, a wealthy philanthropist who has donated to Colonna's party funds. Miletti's lawyer, Piretta, was murdered whilst delivering the ransom, and his glamorous young widow blames Miletti's family, claiming they wanted their father dead. Zen finds Miletti's petulant son Silvio at odds with his amorous sister Cinzia and her well-organized husband Carlo, whilst Zen's colleague Vincenzo, choked that Heuber got the job he wanted, feels they should bungle the case to discredit their boss. Against Moscati's advice, Zen agrees to deliver a second ransom given him by Colonna, but Miletti is found dead. Zen is suspended but, after contacting the genuine kidnappers, discovers that Miletti's actual killer is far closer to home, leading to Heuber's dismissal and Zen's promotion.