''Johannes Cabal the Detective'' is a 2010

supernatural fiction Supernatural fiction or supernaturalist fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that exploits or is centered on supernatural themes, often contradicting naturalist assumptions of the real world. Description In its broadest definition, supe ...

Ruritanian romance Ruritanian romance is a genre of literature, film and theatre comprising novels, stories, plays and films set in a fictional country, usually in Central or Eastern Europe, such as the "Ruritania" that gave the genre its name. Such stories are typ ...

mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reas ...

Jonathan L. Howard Jonathan L. Howard is a British writer and game designer, known mainly for his novels about Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. He lives with his wife and daughter near Bristol. Work Howard worked as scriptwriter and video game writer since the early ...

and the second book in the ''Johannes Cabal'' series. The novel follows Cabal, an infamous

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events; ...

on adventures in the fictional Central European countries of Mirkavia and Senza.

Synopsis

The novel follows the necromancer Cabal, as he is awaiting execution as a result of a botched book theft. He's able to escape by stealing a government official's identity, but this proves to cause more trouble than he expected when he ends up getting caught up in a series of strange events on a luxury aeroship.

Reception

Critical reception has been positive.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

gave the novel a positive review, writing "You needn't have read the first book to enjoy Howard's latest pulpy adventure, but odds are, once you've experienced the author's dryly funny, dexterous prose — and seen how well it breathes life (as it were) into his unapologetically amoral main character, you'll want to seek it out." The ''

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'' also praised the work, calling it a "delight" and commenting that "Howard has taken his central character and kept him true to his core, while sending him off on an adventure that could not be anticipated from "''Johannes Cabal the Necromancer''.""

References

External links

* * 2010 novels {{2010s-hist-novel-stub