Johannes Cabal the Detective

Where do you go after a story that involves a deal with the devil and a traveling carnival? A mystery on an airship, of course. Johannes Cabal returns for new shenanigans, a familiar face, and a lot of left turns. The writing isn't bad, though there were points where I found myself reading the same passages a few times. Kinda prefer the first story, but I still want to read the rest of the series if I can.

Couldn’t get into it.

The second book in the Johannes Cabal series is quite a departure from the debut novel (Johannes Cabal the Necromancer) but it only builds upon on the fabulous and frightfully entertaining Cabal. Since the events of book one Johannes has landed himself in trouble again, this time he has been imprisoned in a foreign country after an unsuccessful attempt of robbery. He is promised release if he can help the Emperor give a rousing speech to his people to fan the flames of war. Unfortunately the Emperor's memory isn't as good as it used to be seeing as how he's been quite dead for several hours. What transpires from there results in a daring escape, featuring swordplay and trickery, ultimately leading to identity theft and boarding a state of the art zeppelin to escape across the border. Just as his escape seems cemented thanks to his new churlish identity an old face from the not too favorable past appears as the ultimate wrench in his plans. The troublesome conscious he had until recently done without makes this a very tricky situation that Cabal tries to handle with the social grace one would expect from a loner Necromancer. Things only escalate when a murder stuns the aristocracy and nobles aboard the flight. Cabal, recluctant yet pleased for the distraction begins his investigation. Everything would have gone fine for the murderer until they attempted to murder Johannes Cabal. (He takes great offense to things like that.) From there the dour Cabal gets dragged into a social and political power house of a mystery. This is a very strong entry into the series although probably the most different of them thematically so far. The comedy is spot on, as well as the intrigue and spectacular action that takes place throughout. It is, at it's heart, a locked room murder that is wrapped in politics and peppered with polite dinners and drinks with untrustworthy characters. Among which is our protagonist.