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Magdeburg Noir


Magdeburg, once destroyed by the imperialist army in 1631, has risen from its ruins under the United States of Europe, fueled by rapid industrial growth and an iMagdeburg, the capital of the newly-formed United States of Europe, has a dark and bloody history. Most of the city and its population were destroyed when the imperialist army ran amok after capturing the city in May of 1631. The ancient Gothic cathedral was one of the few structures that survived more-or-less intact.

Once the Swedish king Gustav Adolf drove out the imperialists and established the USE, Magdeburg began to recover—and then grow at an astonishing rate. New industries inspired by the technology of the time-transplanted Americans of Grantville are turning the city into a boom town, with immigrants from all over central Europe pouring in.

A boom town is full of hope and aspiration—but it’s also a place that generates its own darkness and chaos. The city’s fledgling police force is scrambling to get control over the growing crime and violence. Sometimes it succeeds—but often it doesn’t. And such failures bring down the might of the city’s powerful revolutionary Committees of Correspondence, whose leader Gunther Achterhof can match any criminal’s ruthlessness.

Musicians murdered, new and brutal religious cults arising, bombings and arson, spies and informers and those hunting them—these are only some of the ingredients in the reborn city of light and darkness.



This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, January 2020

Baen ebook edition 2025

Original publication January 2020, 1632 Inc., Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press

Prior Publication History: An earlier version of “Lex Talionis” appeared in The Grantville Gazette #75, copyright 2018. An earlier version of “Apostate” was serialized in The Grantville Gazette in Issues #83 and 84, copyright 2019. This book is the first publication of “If the Shoe Fits . . .”

eISBN: 978-1-964856-09-4

Copyright © 2020 by David Carrico

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Electronic version by Baen Books
http://www.baen.com


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