Critique of Criminal Reason

In the first book in this intelligent and fascinating series, the reader is quickly plunged into the midst 1803 investigation of a string of murders in Konigsberg, Prussia. Hanno Stiffeniis, a rural procurator, finds himself mysteriously and peremptorily ordered by King William III to report "with all haste" to the ancient city held in a "grip of terror". Stiffeniis has been recommended to the King by an "imminent person", which turns out to be aged Immanuel Kant, whom he knows from a brief but intense meeting seven years earlier. Something about that meeting caused such concern that Kant's lawyer had written to Stiffeniis and demanding that he never communicate with the old philosopher again. Dark hints are dropped as well that Stiffeniis had a hand in his brother's untimely death. Mystery swirls around the murders. Are they part of a Jacobin plot to destabilize the Prussian state? Or are the killings the work of a madman? Stiffeniis does meet, of course, with Kant who has also engaged the aid of a doctor engaged in paranormal "science" and primitive pathology. Does Kant really put stock in the doctor's hocus pocus wherein he appears to speak with the spirit of the most recently deceased victim? Has Kant's great mind finally broken under the strain of decades of heroic sustained effort? Has he suddenly changed his philosophical views on death's door? Stiffeniis also has to struggle with the brutal methods of the Prussian military in handling his prisoners, but his own missteps lead to tragic results that pile one on top of another. The identity and motive of the killer are well-hidden. Any number of characters seem like plausible candidates at one time or another: Stiffeniis's assistant, Kant's former assistant Martin Lampe, a luridly sensuous albino prostitute, and even Kant himself (!). Even once the murders are solved, the mystery concerning Stiffeniis's brother remains. His own parents turned bitterly and irredeemably against him, but why? The book contains a number of historical characters in addition to Kant, including his lawyer Jachmann, and his former live-in aide Lampe, who really was fired about two years before Kant's death. The telling of the tale magnificently recreates the lost world of inflexible bureaucratic militaristic Prussia, the debauched denizens of an early 18th century port city's waterfront, the vast chasm of separating the well-to-do burghers from the multitudes living in Third World class poverty. The story also oozes appropriate amounts of creepiness. Critique of Criminal Reason is an extremely well-written and intelligent murder mystery - but don't worry, you don't need to know Kant's philosophy to appreciate the story. Highest recommendation.

This is a wonderful historical mystery ... for the most part. Written in crisp 1st person prose, the "CSI of Ostpreußen" is gripping and terrifically atmospheric - very Tim Burton-esque. HOWEVER, one wonders if the author ever really investigated the real Konigsberg. I'm dumbfounded at some basic mistakes and omissions: 1) Even in the 18th century, Koenigsberg a beautiful and charming place - a quaint medieval city on the Baltic with lovely promenades and a lake/park. The "fortress" was never an ugly or "abominable" monstrosity as the author describes, but rather a mix of 13th - 18 century romanesque and gothic structures. The fortress church was beautiful, and large parts of the fortress were luxuriously appointed to host the Prussian royalty when the returned to East Prussia for state visits. Friedrich Wilhelm had garden terraces placed around the facade. Being Italian, I guess the author thinks only Mediterranean cities have any beauty. 2) Whats with the picture of Berlin and the St. Hedwig church on the cover, instead of Konigsberg and Kant's cathedral? BOOO on the publisher and cover designer. 3) The author likes throwing in little Koenigsberg historical trivia, but even these are often wrong. A GLARING example: He talks about mathematician Euler's "9 Bridges of Koenigsberg Problem" ... only trouble is its "7 Bridges." 4) He talks about Kants house on Magesterstaße. The Magesterstraße is on the Kneiphof Island in the center of the city. The island is NEVER mentioned. Better historical research is definitely warranted, but an entertaining book nonetheless. Koenigsberger oldtimers and afficiandos will be perplexed by the numerous faux-pas. 4 stars nonetheless ... -1 for inaccuracies in content and the cover image.

"Inside the ample glass jar, the severed head lolled in a swirling sea of cloudy preserving alcohol. Tangled gray-red sinews, clots of blood and gore shifted gently in the straw-colored liquid like the trailing tendrils of a jellyfish." Something fiendish had happened to the victim; his head preserved a secret only the finest mind might discern. It is February, 1804. Hanno Stiffeniis, a magistrate in Lotingen, Prussia, is summoned by King Frederick Wilhelm III to Königsberg. "Our beloved Königsberg (is) in a grip of terror," the King writes. The summons takes Stiffeniis completely by surprise. Stiffeniis sets up headquarters at the Fortress of Königsberg. The basement, where prisoners are herded to an uncertain fate, reminds Stiffeniis of Hades; "the upper floors were as confusing as the maze of Crete. Gloomy, ill-lit passages shot off left and right of the main corridor, no feature distinguishing one way from any of the others." That seems to describe the investigation into the strange murders in Königsberg. Which way to turn? Some believed Napoleon was planning to invade Prussia and was leaving a calling card of terror. Others proposed not a political but a spiritual cause. All of the victims (just a handful, but unsettling in the extreme) were killed as they were kneeling; the cause of death was unknown but rumor was spreading that the Devil's Claw had done them in. Stiffeniis tells the tale, and what a tale it is, involving not-soon-forgotten characters such as an albino prostitute; Dr. Vigilantius, a necromancer and follower of Emmanuel Swedenborg; and Immanuel Kant himself, now retired and sickly, who is collecting the heads of the victims. Heady stuff, indeed, this "Critique of Criminal Reason" ($25.95 in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books) by Michael Gregorio, a philosophy professor who lives in Italy. Gregorio draws on the new authoritative biography of Kant by Manfred Kuehn and interweaves invented characters and real personages into the lives of Kant and Stiffeniis. Immanuel Kant is one of the giants of philosophy, an exponent of pure reason who famously wrote that all rational beings would wish to do away with emotion since it leads right thinking astray. According to the Kuehn biography, Kant wrote a little-known work, "Dreams of a Spirit-Seer," in which he seemed to mock Swedenborgian spirituality; in "Critique of Criminal Reason" Kant tells Stiffeniis that it's "the only book of mine for which I have ever apologized." In the story, Kant himself has called Dr. Vigilantius to "listen" to the corpse of one of the victims and Kant who sets up a clandestine laboratory in which he collects the heads-in-jars. This is a side of Kant that seems very much out of character with the little man of Königsberg whose daily walks were so carefully timed residents could set their clocks. But Kuehn confirms that the elderly Kant was working on a manuscript at the time of his death that attempted to unite his metaphysics with physics, the natur

Michael Gregorio is a professor of philosophy and lives in Italy; this is his first mystery. Gregorio has created an uncannily realistic story of horrible murders and the beginnings of forensic crime scene analysis. It is a freezing cold February in 1804, and magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis is summoned from his small town to Konigsberg by an edict from the Kaiser himself, to come and solve a series of mysterious murders. His mentor and the man who encouraged him to study law, the great philosopher Immanuel Kant, lives in Konigsberg. Now elderly, he lives a solitary life with only a servant for company. It turns out that Kant had requested Hanno to work on the case--and eerily directs his work on the case, showing him severed heads with wounds, drawings of the crime scenes, and part of the murder weapon removed from a corpse. At that time it was common to solve a murder by torturing a suspect until they confessed, rather than examining evidence scientifically. There are innumerable twists and turns in this plot. Was it a conspiracy by pro-Bonaparte terrorists, or the acts of a mad witch? More people are murdered by diverse methods, including people close to the case. Were they victims of the original killer? Hanno's mind changes daily as to who might be responsible. The horrible truth comes out with the discovery of a mangled corpse devoured by starving wolves in the outskirts of the city--and Hanno must write this report to the Kaiser. This educated historical mystery has been compared the Alienist by Carr and the work of Umberto Eco. Armchair Interviews says: Gregorio has created a wonderful and dark world of criminals and analysis, one which you won't easily forget.

"Reason does not work instinctively, but requires trial, practice, and instruction in order to gradually progress from one level of insight to another." Immanuel Kant Michael Gregorio's first novel is set in the Baltic port city of Konigsberg, Prussia in 1804. What we think of today as a serial killer is on the loose. The city is in a state of panic and conspiracy theories ranging from a Napoleonic plot against Prussia to the work of the devil only add to the panic. A young, inexperienced Procurator (the Prussian equivalent of a magistrate) by the name of Hanno Stiffeniis, is summoned by Kaiser Frederick Wilhelm from his small town to assist in the investigation. As the name of the book suggests, Konigsberg's most famous citizen, the philosopher Immanuel Kant is behind Hanno's appointment. Hanno was once a star pupil of Kant and Kant believes that Hanno's reasoning abilities are critical to solving the crimes. What then follows is the literary birth of the science of forensic criminal investigation. Kant, aged 80 and in rapidly failing health, believes that crimes should be analyzed using what may be called a `critique of reason'. Hanno is a reluctant pupil who's instincts and sense of tradition cause him to think that time honored methods such as torture are the most expedient means to solve a crime. Yet, the bodies keep popping up and Hanno gradually learns to adopt Kant's methodology to the art of criminal investigation. Immanuel Kant once said that the use of reason is driven by three questions: "What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?" We see that process at work as the plot plays out. This is Gregorio's first novel and some of the prose (far from all) seems a bit leaden. But ultimately, Critique of Criminal Reason was a very enjoyable book that kept my attention throughout. Gregorio's bleak portrayal of the dank, winter-storm wracked city of Konigsberg was powerful as was his merging of the last year of Kant's life into a piece of fiction. There are some similarities here to Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose". However, the book that Critique of Criminal Reason bore the most resemblance to is Caleb Carr's "The Alienist". In the "Alienist" Carr takes us to the first uses of psychiatry as a forensic tool in solving crimes. Here Gregorio takes a look at the (fictional) birth of crime scene analysis. The Alienist was a wonderful book and Critique of Criminal Reason falls just a bit short of that mark. Nevertheless, Critique of Criminal is an excellent first novel that left me hoping his second effort will soon follow. Recommended. L. Fleisig