The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale (US Edition) [Kindle Edition]

Oliver Pötzsch (Author), Lee Chadeayne (Translator)

Book Description

BOOK 2 OF THE INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLING HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER SERIES

1660: Winter has settled thick over a sleepy village in the Bavarian Alps, ensuring every farmer and servant is indoors on the night a parish priest discovers he's been poisoned. As numbness creeps up his body, he summons the last of his strength to scratch a cryptic sign in the frost.

Following a trail of riddles, hangman Jakob Kuisl, his headstrong daughter, Magdalena, and the town physician’s son team up with the priest’s aristocratic sister to investigate. What they uncover will lead them back to the Crusades, unlocking a troubled history of internal church politics and sending them on a chase for a treasure of the Knights Templar.

But they’re not the only ones after the legendary fortune. A team of dangerous and mysterious monks is always close behind, tracking their every move, speaking Latin in the shadows, giving off a strange, intoxicating scent. And to throw the hangman off their trail, they have ensured he is tasked with capturing a band of thieves roving the countryside attacking solitary travellers and spreading panic.

Delivering on the promise of the international bestseller The Hangman’s Daughter, Oliver Pötzsch takes us on a whirlwind tour through the occult hiding places of Bavaria’s ancient monasteries. Once again based on prodigious historical research into Pötzsch’s family tree, The Dark Monk brings to life an unforgettable, compassionate hangman and his tenacious daughter, painting a robust tableau of a seventeenth-century Bavaria and quickening our pulses with a gripping, mesmerizing mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The brutality and ignorance of 17th-century Bavaria serves as the backdrop for Pötzsch's thrilling second whodunit featuring an unlikely trio of sleuths (after 2011's The Hangman's Daughter). When the parish priest, Andreas Koppmeyer, eats some poisoned doughnuts after sealing up a mysterious something in his church basement, he manages to scratch a mark on the frost covering a gravestone as he expires. Figuring out what that dying clue means and who doctored the pastries falls to Altenstadt hangman Jakob Kuisl; his daughter, Magdalena, an apprentice midwife; and her suitor, Simon Fronwieser, a doctor's son. Fronwieser links a Latin phrase seen in a crypt with the Templars, raising the possibility that Koppmeyer stumbled on a secret relating to that shadowy society. Meanwhile, the depredations of a gang of robbers threaten local commerce. Fans of Michael Gregorio's early 19th-century Prussian series (Unholy Awakening, etc.) will find a lot to enjoy.

From Booklist

Originally published in Germany in 2009, this sequel to The Hangman’s Daughter begins in January 1660 with the murder of a priest and takes readers on a wild adventure to uncover the secret of a long-hidden (and possibly mythical) treasure of the Knights Templar. Potzsch does an excellent job of plunking the reader down in seventeenth-century Germany; Jakob Kuisl, the town hangman, and his daughter, Magdalena, don’t seem like made-up characters in a fictional landscape but, rather, like real people in a real place (in fact, the Kuisl family of executioners actually existed, and Potzsch is descended from them). The author supplies enough historical detail to give readers a good sense of the time and place but not too much to risk boring them with unnecessary details. Readers will also appreciate the nice balance between drama, suspense, and humor: this is a serious story, Potzsch seems to be saying, but it's OK to have some fun with it. At least two more books in the series are forthcoming, and they will be most welcome.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 885 KB
• Print Length: 516 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0547807686
• Publisher: AmazonCrossing (June 12, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006JTTK3O
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature
  • #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Historical
  • #6 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Historical

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 145 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly Crafted Story! March 27, 2012

By MommaMia VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Oliver Potzsch is by far one of the finest storytellers of our time. The Dark Monk is a fantastic follow up to The Hangman's Daughter. Again, he brings the world of Jakob Kuisl, the hangman of Schongau, vividly to life.

His characters are well crafted, the story is a maze of mystery and intrigue with a dash of romance. I adore Magdalena, Jakob's daughter. She is a passionate, intelligent woman who I admire for her strength of character. Her lover Simon, the town doctor, is certainly a more interesting character because of her presence in his life. If not for her, he'd be just another small town doctor who cares far too much for his appearance. She gives him depth, and he gives her an ounce of respectability, which is virtually impossible for a woman in her social position in that time period. Being the daughter of the hangman was certainly a fact that made people fear her, and gave her little options in life. Her relationship with Simon really mixes things up a bit in this story, especially when the beautiful Benedikta Koppmeyer arrives in town.

This story centers on the murder of a priest, and the confounding clues he leaves behind. We are swept into the world of the Knights Templar, their secrets and mysteries that have made them so fascinating throughout history, are laid bare here, and are center stage in this well crafted tale.

I look forward to further installments in the Hangman's Daughter series. Thank you Mr. Potzsch, for creating these fascinating characters!

This is truly a 5-star success!

118 of 130 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A fun but not convincing tale April 18, 2012

By loce_the_wizard VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Oliver Pötzsch used the motif of the mystery novel and applies it to "The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale," set in 1660. It's winter with a capital "W" in the Bavarian Alps. The story takes us and his characters from village to village with excursions through the countryside and to a series of monasteries.

The plot is set in motion when a poisoned priest uses his dying wits and strength to leave a clue that proves a gateway into a bigger mystery, drawing in the stalwart trio of hangman, executioner, and healer Jakob Kuisl; his somewhat stubborn but attractive daughter Magdalena; and the town physician's son who is a bit of a dandy but smart as a whip, Simon. But while this mystery is the story's center, other events are also crucial, chiefly, a group robbers are preying on travelers, particularly merchants and their cargos, and a deadly illness is killing many of the villagers.

Along with the murdered priest's sister, this group follows a trail of various clues and riddles, each leading to more answers and more questions. Tracking this core group is a trio of murderous monks (not sure which one is actually the dark monk of the title), various church leaders, and another trio of soldiers-for-hire. As you might imagine, murder, mayhem, kidnapping, and so forth ensue.

The story seems as though the scenes were staged for a play or graphic novel with characters tripping over each other in unexpectedly places. I thought that the plot and resolution hinged on a series of increasingly unlikely coincidences playing out and bringing the characters back together in, for me, an ultimately unsatisfactory resolution. In other words, my "willing suspension of disbelief" could only go so far before I felt like the author was winking at me instead of making the story really resolve itself.

I thought "The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale" was a fun but not convincing tale. The characters seemed a bit cartoonish to me, the settings a bit too sketchy, and the plot a bit too twisted.

64 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and addictive to read April 25, 2012

By S. G. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

When I read some of the reviews of the first book in this series (The Hangman's Daughter) I was both intrigued and worried. It sounded like an interesting period to set a mystery-type series, but some of the reviewers seemed to think the book was both anachronistic and ahistorical in certain ways. That may have been true of the first book (I can't say, as I haven't yet read it) but it certainly isn't true of this one.

I found The Dark Monk to be fast-paced and interesting without sacrificing the feel of the era in which the story is set. The pace of actual events may take place at 17th century speed, but the interactions and descriptions of the various character's mental workings was very well-written and entertaining. The book has several interesting characters and you get to hear the story from their point of view in different chapters. The main characters are Jakob (the hangman), Magdalena (his daughter) and Simon (what passes for a doctor in the 17th century).

Jakob is the kind of iconoclastic detective I'm a real sucker for. He is going to do things his own way and ultimately will rely chiefly on his own counsel, even though he allows Simon and Magdalena brief glimpses into what is going on in his head.

Simon is the kind of character who you alternately like, pity, despise, and then like again. He can be vain and flawed, but he also realizes his short comings and exhibits humanity during a period of time when people had to scratch and claw 24/7 just to keep going.

Magdalena alternates between fierce pride that she is the hangman's daughter and dangerous despair that her position in her village will prevent her from having what she wants in life-- namely, Simon.

The murder is grisly enough and the intrigue is fun and involves Templar Knights-- what could be better than Templars and treasure?!

I laughed out loud several times and really enjoyed the voice the author employs when writing as Jakob. The humor is dry and sophisticated while still maintaining an earthy tone.

Is it likely that these type of folks would have books (exceedingly rare for even those in the highest of social circles) and have the leisure and ability to actually read them? The writing is so good that I can stretch disbelief far enough to believe it. I also believe the humor and slang in the book are representative of the time. "The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel," was written over 100 years earlier than the time this book is supposed to be set and it contains similar bawdy and sly humor.

I loved this book and I will be buying the first book in this series. If you enjoy the murder mystery genre and have books by authors like Cruz-Smith, Nesbo, and Chandler on your shelf I think you will like this one, too.

More About the Author

Oliver Pötzsch, born in 1970, has worked for years as a scriptwriter for Bavarian television. He himself is a descendant of one of Bavaria's leading dynasties of executioners.

He lives in Munich with his family.

Photo © Dominik Parzinger.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#19 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical

#19 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#19 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#26 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

#39 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#19 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical

#19 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#19 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#26 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

#39 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense