- He went to school in Northern Ireland and later studied English Literature at Sussex University before traveling to Canada to take a master's degree at the University of Edmonton.
- He published his first book, "The Last Sherlock Holmes Story", in 1978. He also wrote his first American-based novel, Dark Spectre in 1995.
- Best known for his Italian detective Aurelio Zen. His first Aurelio Zen novel, "Ratking", was inspired by four years spent teaching English in Italy. It won the Gold Dagger award for crime fiction in 1988. After the success of Ratking, he wrote a further 10 novels starring the world-weary detective, including his most recently-completed story, End Games, which will be published posthumously in 2007.
- Dibdin also wrote regular reviews for "The Independent" newspaper, and he edited two collections of crime stories.
- He met his third wife Katherine Beck at a writers' conference in Spain in 1993. She is a mystery writer whose pen name is "KK Beck".
- His "Aurelio Zen" series often paints an unflattering portrait of modern Italy, as Zen deals with political cover-ups, petty bureaucracy, and Mafia murders. The series have been translated into more than a dozen languages, although Dibdin himself admitted that they did not sell well in Italy.
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