Stitch and Bear

A long-running Irish blog with reviews of the best restaurants in Dublin and throughout Ireland. Some wine and cocktails thrown in for good measure!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Critique of Criminal Reason - Michael Gregorio

Take yourself back in time to Prussia in 1804, at the dawn of the Enlightenment. A serial killer is striking without mercy in a snow-covered, dark city. Magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis is called from his small town to the magnificent city of Koningsberg, which is gripped by terror at the prospect of future murders.

Once in Koningsberg, Stiffeniis begins to realise that greater schemes are afoot and he seeks guidance from the eminent philosopher Immanuel Kant, who is attempting to pioneer a new way of thinking when investigating crimes. The logical ways of conducting a forensic investigation which seem so commonplace to us CSI-junkies are new-fangled ideas in Koningsberg.

Michael Gregorio is actually a husband and wife team of writers, who have combined to create a dark and superstitious world which struggles to emerge into an age of reason. The ever-present threat of invasion from Bonaparte hangs like a grim spectre over all dialogue and interactions. It is in turns a tense thriller and a philosophical read. Look out for more in the series.
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1 comment

  1. Plesantly written with good discriptive prose which places you convincingly in the period at the dawn of the enlightenment. However as a murder mystery goes this book dissapoints with a main character who is neither likeable nor bad enough to be interesting. Also the average reader would work out the who and the why halfway through the book leaving the remaining chapters as a somewhat dull narative.

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