Just Finished Reading: Critique of Criminal Reason by Michael Gregorio

The year is 1804. The armies of Napoleon Bonaparte are rampaging through Europe defeating anyone who stands against them. Meanwhile, in the Prussian Baltic port of Konigsberg a series of gruesome murders has sent the city to the edge of panic. Called in unexpectedly to investigate them magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis is thrown into a whirlwind of conspiracies and secrets which not only threatens the stability of the nation but his very life and sanity. At the heart of events is his old university professor – the philosopher Immanuel Kant. Stiffeniis must uncover the killer before they take any more lives and protect the reputation of the man he admires above all others.

Written by husband and wife team Michael Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio this was an impressive first novel. The setting was particularly well done enabling the reader to be drawn into the life of the freezing Baltic Sea port in which the majority of the action took place. Historically set at the beginning of the Enlightenment it blended the new ways of thinking with the superstitious ways of the peasantry and common soldiers who made up the general cast of this book. Stiffeniss himself was an interesting character though his reasoning (or lack there of) did greatly annoy me at times. His investigation of the murders seems haphazard which contrasted badly with his regular statements extolling logic and reason. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this novel and might still pick up the sequel at some point. If the pair can produce a work of this quality on their first attempt I predict that they have a long and fruitful writing career ahead of them. Whilst not an earth shattering work in any way this was a more than reasonable historical murder mystery.