Unholy Awakening by Micheal Gregorio

Unholy Awakening by Michael Gregorio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are new visitors to the town Lotigen of Hanno Stiffenis. A dad and his daughter. Almost as soon as they arrive they find the dead body of a tailor lady in the well of the house which they have hired. There are all marks of a vampire on the neck of the lady whose blood has been drained.

Soon there are bodies all over the village, with the person managing the cemetery, followed by his replacement. A surprise visit from Lavedrine the French (possibly gay) Colonel adds a further twist. He brings a gift for Hanno's wife and he says that he has seen similar murders for French officers in the town of Marienburg where the French are stationed.

Hanno is pulled to Marienburg by Lavedrine where he discovers more details of similar gruesome murders.

How Hanno and Lavedrine go about solving the murder mystery is the basic premise of the book. Another dark thriller from Micheal Gregorio.

A good read.

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Critique of Criminal Reason by Micheal Gregorio

Critique of Criminal Reason by Michael Gregorio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hanno Stifeniis has moved to Lotingen to stay away from the tumultuous life he has had in Konisberg. He is living a peaceful life with his wife and children. A call or rather a command from the King to go to Konisberg disturbs this idyllic life of Hanno. He is rushed to Konisberg and has been asked to investigate a series of murders. This in the background that Napolean is contemplating to attack Prussia.

Hanno is put up in an inn by the person who summoned him, whom he realizes may not be the King himself where there seems to be political intrigue cooking up. He is warned by the innkeeper's nephew about the nefarious activities and he the innkeeper tries his best to keep his nephew from talking to Hanno. Hanno is unable to decide and before he can do so the boy is murdered.

The assistant of the the ex-procurator who Hanno has replaced turns out to be of tremendous help to Hanno, although their initial interactions had not turned out to be very cordial.

He is pushed to a situation where he is forced to meet up with Kant, with whom he had been asked not to interact with, by others who were close to Kant. Kant proves once again to Hanno and his worship of his idol continues.

The book weaves through the life of a prostitute cum abortionist and the prior valet of Kant and through Hanno's personal tragedy of having lost his brother and mother.

The book ends with a Hanno giving a reply to the King on the murders that have happened and goes back to Lotingen. The reader is left to speculate as to what actually happened.

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Days of Atonement by Micheal Gregorio

Days of Atonement by Michael Gregorio
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is set in the early 1800s. The protagonist is an apprentice of Immanuel Kant. He is a procurator (magistrate) in a small Prussian town. Napolean has conquered Prussia and the French are ruling it with an iron hand. There is lack of all resources amongst the Prussian. The procurator's wife has delivered a baby and she is just recovering from this delivery both physically and mentally. There is enough antagonism between the Prussians and the French as is between any conqueror and the conquered.
Amidst this there is a gruesome massacre of three children. Their mother is missing and their father is another town. The French rope in the procurator to work alongside a French investigator to try and solve the mystery. The common link between them is that both of them revere Immanuel Kant. The procurator finds the French investigator a flirt and finds him flirting with his wife too. He tries to keep the news away from his wife before he is sent off to a the town where the father of the children is stationed to inform him about the murders. There he finds that the father too has died under mysterious circumstances. He finds the Prussian General who is running that township to be unfriendly.
When he returns with this news he finds that the French investigator has interviewed his wife in his absence and that his wife knows about the murders. The townsfolk believe that the Jews have killed the chidlren and they are baying for the blood of the Jews who are living in a ghetto in the town.
The book is about how the two go about collaborating with, Kant's shadow, over them and solve the mystery. A good read.

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