The Poisoned Pilgrim: A Hangman's Daughter Tale Paperback Author: Visit Amazon's Oliver Pötzsch Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0544114604 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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From Publishers Weekly
Set in Bavaria in 1666, Pötzsch’s stellar fourth Hangman’s Daughter mystery (after The Beggar King) features three unlikely sleuths: hangman Jakob Kuisl; his daughter, Magdalena; and Magdalena’s husband, Simon Fronweiser, a “bathhouse medicus” in the town of Schongau. Magdalena and Simon, the parents of two boys, leave the children with Magdalena’s parents in order to undertake a pilgrimage to the monastery at Andechs—a trip that turns out to be anything but spiritual. When Coelestin—a novitiate who stumbled onto a horrific heresy—drowns, his death is deemed accidental, until Simon notices marks of violence on the corpse. More deaths follow, and the arrest of Brother Johannes, an old friend of Kuisl, prompts the executioner to leave his ailing wife to come to Johannes’s aid. The author maintains tension throughout as the trio seeks to unravel the intricate scheme behind the killings, which are connected to a lifelike human automaton. —Reviewed on 05/27/2013.
From Library Journal
Magdalena Kuisl and her husband Simon have embarked on a religious pilgrimage to the Bavarian Holy Mountain, leaving their young boys in her parents’ care. This trip goes awry when the duo encounters violence, including a bell tower attack on Magdalena, and three apparent murders. When a monk is wrongfully jailed for the murders, he confides in Magdalena that he’s a former hangman and begs her to get her father, Jakob, to come help. Within days, religious pilgrims will be mobbing the site for the annual Festival of The Three Hosts, unaware that some monks are stripping the monastery of its priceless treasures. Meanwhile, time is running out for the Kuisls in their hunt for the real murderer.
VERDICT: Word-of-mouth popularity is richly deserved for Pötzsch’s historical series (after The Beggar King) about a Bavarian hangman and his family, based loosely on the author’s forebears. He creates
an intoxicating mix with frenetic pacing, strong doses of adventure and wit, and 17th-century historical detail. The hefty length doesn’t detract from
vivid storytelling along the lines of Katherine Neville and William Dietrich. —Reviewed on 07/01/2013.
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Direct download links available for Download The Poisoned Pilgrim: A Hangman's Daughter Tale
- Series: Hangman's Daughter (Book 4)
- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Mariner Books (July 16, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0544114604
- ISBN-13: 978-0544114609
- Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Let me begin by saying that Oliver Potzsch has quickly become one of my very favorite authors. I waited with anticipation for this fourth installment in The Hangman's Daughter series, and as with all previous books in this series, I was not disappointed. I am thrilled to say that The Poisoned Pilgrim was everything I had hoped for from Mr. Potzsch.
This story takes place in the year 1666 at the monastery at Andechs. The monastery is a favorite pilgrimage site, and Jacob Kuisl, the hangman of Schongau, finds himself embroiled in a dark mystery involving an old friend who took refuge as a monk some years previous. This friend finds himself the suspect in a triple murder and he is suspected of being a warlock working with the dark arts. He knows that the only person who has a chance to save him is his old wartime friend, Jacob Kuisl. He puts all his faith and trust in the hangman, and as the story unfolds, it seems his faith is not misplaced. The sharp mind, keen senses and experience as a hangman all come to play to assist our reluctant hero in solving yet another puzzling mystery.
Joining him in the sleuthing are his intrepid daughter, Magdalena and her husband, Simon Fronweiser. Together they search for clues and risk their lives to assist Jacob's friend who, while performing scientific experiments has placed himself under suspicion, due to fear and superstition. I doubt these times were easy, even under the best of circumstances with illnesses decimating whole villages and the rigid beliefs and prejudices making anyone a little out of the ordinary fodder for gossip and as we see in this tale, even at risk for far worse.
I've enjoyed Oliver Potzsch's Hangman's Daughter series, but the fourth installment, "The Poisoned Pilgrim," fails to hit the same high marks as its predecessors. Potzsch's fourth novel is a tedious, sloppy affair.
On the good side, the book opens with a sinister murder and and horrific thunderstorm. Magdalena, the titular hangman's daughter from the first book, is making a pilgrimage to the monastery at Andechs with her husband (the surgeon/dandy Simon) for a holy festival. Andechs is famed throughout Priest's Corner for its holy relics, but Magdalena and Simon have no idea how notorious the place will soon become as murder and witchcraft will soon run rampant. A trumped-up accusation of witchcraft soon as the Schongau hangman, Jakob Kuisl, tramping to Andechs to save a long-lost friend from torture and death.
All that sounds fine as a set-up, but this fourth installment has serious flaws in its writing and logic. I hate to spoil books, even mediocre ones, so I'll leave the logic flaws for you to discover. The writing, however . . .
I've never been a huge fan of Potzsch's dialogue. I don't know if he's to blame or translator Lee Chadeayne, but the dialogue remains wooden and literal. Potzsch isn't a particularly funny or witty writer, so he underlines his dialogue with "he joked," "she grinned," "he growled", etc. (incidentally, people growl in Potzsch's books *a lot*). Characters sound like characters in a book rather than real people - there are lots of lines that are the equivalent of "How could I have been so stupid?" when nobody in the real world ever uses that line in a moment of realization.
There are also lots of mistakes in the book that reveal a lack of attention to detail.
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