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In 1524, in what is now Germany, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolt against the harsh treatment by their aristocratic overlords. Agnes, the daughter of one of these overlords, is not a typical 16th-century girl. She refuses to wear dresses and spends more time with her pet falcon than she does trying to attract potential suitors. In fact there is only one man who interests her: Mathis, a childhood friend whom she can never marry because of his lowly birth.
When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. When more children disappear and an orphan is found dead with the same mark, the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt. Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth.
In this thrilling adventure by bestselling author Oliver Pötzsch, thirteen-year-old Lukas has been trained as a swordsman by his father, a nobleman who was once a famed Musketeer. When the threat of war and accusations of witchcraft spread across the land, Lukas's life is forever changed. He flees his home and vows to find his missing sister.
June 16, 1692. Relic dealer Georg Ayndorfer is found slain in the Chapel of St. Quirinus of Tegernsee. Was it the holy rage of St. Quirinus himself, or was Ayndorfer murdered by jealous colleagues? Georg Asam, a famous artist commissioned to paint a fresco in the chapel, feels compelled to investigate.
Oxford, Spring 1353. When young bookseller Nicholas Elyot discovers the body of student William Farringdon floating in the river Cherwell, it looks like a drowning. Soon, however, Nicholas finds evidence of murder. Who could have wanted to kill this promising student? As Nicholas and his scholar friend Jordain try to unravel what lies behind William's death, they learn that he was innocently caught up in a criminal plot.
Northumberland, 1809: A beautiful young heiress disappears from her locked bedchamber at Linn Hagh. The local constables are baffled and the townsfolk cry "witchcraft". The heiress' uncle summons help from Detective Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods, who face one of their most challenging cases.
In 1524, in what is now Germany, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolt against the harsh treatment by their aristocratic overlords. Agnes, the daughter of one of these overlords, is not a typical 16th-century girl. She refuses to wear dresses and spends more time with her pet falcon than she does trying to attract potential suitors. In fact there is only one man who interests her: Mathis, a childhood friend whom she can never marry because of his lowly birth.
When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. When more children disappear and an orphan is found dead with the same mark, the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt. Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth.
In this thrilling adventure by bestselling author Oliver Pötzsch, thirteen-year-old Lukas has been trained as a swordsman by his father, a nobleman who was once a famed Musketeer. When the threat of war and accusations of witchcraft spread across the land, Lukas's life is forever changed. He flees his home and vows to find his missing sister.
June 16, 1692. Relic dealer Georg Ayndorfer is found slain in the Chapel of St. Quirinus of Tegernsee. Was it the holy rage of St. Quirinus himself, or was Ayndorfer murdered by jealous colleagues? Georg Asam, a famous artist commissioned to paint a fresco in the chapel, feels compelled to investigate.
Oxford, Spring 1353. When young bookseller Nicholas Elyot discovers the body of student William Farringdon floating in the river Cherwell, it looks like a drowning. Soon, however, Nicholas finds evidence of murder. Who could have wanted to kill this promising student? As Nicholas and his scholar friend Jordain try to unravel what lies behind William's death, they learn that he was innocently caught up in a criminal plot.
Northumberland, 1809: A beautiful young heiress disappears from her locked bedchamber at Linn Hagh. The local constables are baffled and the townsfolk cry "witchcraft". The heiress' uncle summons help from Detective Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods, who face one of their most challenging cases.
Detective Inspector Ian Hamilton is no stranger to Edinburgh's darkest crimes. Scarred by the mysterious fire that killed his parents, he faces his toughest case yet when a young man is found strangled in Holyrood Park. With little evidence aside from a strange playing card found on the body, Hamilton engages the help of his aunt, a gifted photographer, and George Pearson, a librarian with a shared interest in the criminal mind.
India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her. Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who'll accept her - an enigmatic and mysterious man from America, a man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he's ill.
The year is 1018 and the war with England is finally over, but the unified kingdom ruled by Cnut of Denmark is far from peaceful. Halfdan has lost everything to the war but his sense of humor. Once a proud nobleman, now he wanders the country aimlessly powered only by his considerable charm and some petty theft. When he finds an unlikely ally in Winston, a bookish former monk, the two set out together for Oxford, the seat of the new king.
In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm.” Hell’s Princess is a riveting account of one of the most sensational killing sprees in the annals of American crime: the shocking series of murders committed by the woman who came to be known as Lady Bluebeard.
It is the year 1586. England is awash with traitors, plotting to assassinate the Queen and bring about a foreign invasion. The young physician Christoval Alvarez, a refugee from the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition, is coerced into becoming a code-breaker and agent in Sir Francis Walsingham's secret service. In the race to thwart the plot, who will triumph - the ruthless conspirators or the equally ruthless State?
In 1482 the Englishman Thomas Berrington is living in the last remnants of Moorish Spain. A physician, he is an unwilling friend to the most powerful man in the kingdom. When bodies start to turn up, each showing the marks of a savage attack, Thomas is asked to investigate.
An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto. When the eccentric and enigmatic Barker takes the case, he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved", he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.
Detective Chief Inspector Ryan retreats to Holy Island seeking sanctuary when he is forced to take sabbatical leave from his duties as a homicide detective. A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered, and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby priory. When former local girl Dr. Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface, making her confront her difficult past.
With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper-class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name.
Before she befriended a frightened young boy in the palace of Kingfountain, Ankarette Tryneowy grew up during the shattering civil war that raged between members of the Argentine family. This is the story of how the only daughter of a lawyer and a midwife became the famed Queen's Poisoner.
Kat and Doug felt like Aurora Village was the perfect community. Minutes from the city, affluent without pretension, low crime with a friendly vibe - it’s everything Kat never had, and that she’s determined to provide for her infant daughter. But everything changes overnight when Kat finds a scrawled note outside their front door. That wasn’t very neighborly of you. As increasingly sinister and frighteningly personal notes arrive, each one stabs deeper into the heart of Kat’s insecurities, paranoia, and most troubling, her past.
As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry - and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
In 1886, King Ludwig II, the King of Bavaria, was deposed on grounds of mental incapacity without any medical examination. His "diagnosis" remains controversial among historians to this day. Soon after his fall from power, Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances, leaving the eccentric and beautiful "fairytale" castles he had built as his only remaining legacy.
While putting away books from an estate sale purchase, rare book-dealer Steven Lukas finds a box he's never seen before wedged between books on a high shelf. In it he discovers what looks to be a small diary written entirely in code, a lock of hair, and old photographs of the Fairytale King. It isn't long however, before his excitement turns to fear as he realizes that mysterious others want the diary too - and will apparently kill to get it. Suspecting that his find may contain the secret truth behind Ludwig's death, Steven consults with art historian Sara Lengfeld. Soon they find themselves on the run together, investigating each of Ludwig's three castles for clues as to just what in that ancient diary could be so explosive as to be worth killing - and even dying - for.
If you love old books, old fairy tales, and old Germany, this one's for you . . . Having lived in Germany twice and visited all three of King Ludwig's castles, I was captivated by this historical (fictional) tale moving between current day and the last days of the king's reign. If you don't have a vivid imagination or value things of old, it may not be for you . . . but I found myself lost in it . . . once again walking in Linderhof, Neuschuanstein, and Herrenchemchiemsee castles. The modern day murder and the box containing the diary that leads Steve and Sara back to the castles in search of answers is a mystery that keeps you listening . . . and wondering . . . a great journey!
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
I avoided reading the book in print because the translation I saw was a mess. I waited for the spoken version, and when I saw Anthea Bell had translated it, I knew this translation would have been carefully prepared. Plus, Simon Vance, while perhaps not the best choice for a narrator who has to get through a lot of German pronunciation, does a commendable job. So why am I so disappointed in this book?
Without revealing spoilers, I'll just say the plot seemed predictable and too much was given away too early. Unfortunately, it cannot escape comparisons to "The Da Vinci Code." This too, is all too obvious very early on.
Furthermore, while the main characters showed the potential for unique and intriguing personalities early on, they didn't develop into fictional people I cared much about. Despite the fact they were in danger and there should have been great suspense, I couldn't sustain much interest in what happened next.
On the other hand, the book is atmospheric and evocative, a beautiful fictional visit to Bavaria for the armchair tourist, with a good dash of history thrown in.
This is the first Pötzsch book I've read. I would definitely read something else from him. But overall, I'd give "The Ludwig Conspiracy" a miss and choose another of this books if you are interested.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful
Great writer with great historical research. The narrator does a good job interpreting the author's characters personalities.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I love the Hangman series and was excited to see this book on Ludwig. I knew very little about King Ludwig other than he was crazy and built beautiful castles. I found the story disappointing. I never developed a relationship (other than annoyance) with any of the characters, past or present. They seemed very flat. In addition, I figured out clues much faster than the characters, which made the book drag. It was also difficult to believe an "art detective" would have such disregard for a valuable, antique diary, as to turn its pages with chocolate on her fingers. The bookseller was spineless beyond belief. If you are a huge fan of Ludwig conspiracies, read the book. If not, save your time and credit for the Hangman series.
A big fan of Oliver Potzsch's Hangman's Daughter stories, I hoped for another well written piece of historical fiction and was not disappointed. With no previous knowledge of the Fairytale King lLudwig II, I really enjoyed learning about the times and being entertained with the possibilities. Well worth the read. Oliver Potzsch's historical fiction is great as it embraces topics and times not well covered by others. As a fan of his and the late Swede Henning Mankel, I often wonder how many non English writers are out "there" awaiting discovery.
Ludwig II is a fascinating character but this is a dime store potboiler not worthy of the legend. Simon Vance is great as always.
It's been a long time since I really loved a book like this where the writing and performance come together in a perfect storm of talent. I am a Scott Brick and sometime Luke Daniels fan but Simon Vance has gone to the head of the class with this book. I highly recommend this story to anyone who has any imagination at all.
Good story. The reader could have been better. I didn't agree with his interpretation of the main characters when they were angry...but I kept listening until the very end.
What made the experience of listening to The Ludwig Conspiracy the most enjoyable?
It was a good story, had great flow, just enough historical fact to make it interesting, the relationships worked well, and the storyline kept you listening.
What did you like best about this story?
Everything
Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, I it was a pleasant voice, and his interperation was great.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When reality hitted the main character.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book from Oliver Pötzsch and/or Simon Vance?
I am hesitant about other books by Potzsch. I was so excited by the book description, but felt let down. The story was just meh.
As for Simon Vance, his narration was great. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by him, so long as the book sounded interesting.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
I think it would take a lot of changes to make this one more enjoyable, but the biggest thing would be to strengthen the plot.
Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?
I think he did them all well.
Was The Ludwig Conspiracy worth the listening time?
It depends on the listener. For me, the story was a let down.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful