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The Hangman's Daughter  By  cover art

The Hangman's Daughter

By: Oliver Pötzsch,Lee Chadeayne - translator
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

Germany, 1660: 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. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead - marked by the same tattoo - the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos.

Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town’s physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.

A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman’s Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

©2011 Oliver Pötzsch, Lee Chadeayne (translation) (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

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What listeners say about The Hangman's Daughter

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great but graphic

The Hangman's Daughter hooked me and I listened, engaged, to the end. It has everything I like in historical mystery - compelling characters, fascinating time period, fast-paced plot. The thing to know, though, is it also has torture. The author has not shied away from graphic depictions of the Hangman's trade and atrocities committed by mercenaries and soldiers of the time. For example, an infant is ripped from its mother and swung by its foot... I'll leave the rest out, suffice to say, it doesn't end well for the baby. But the book doesn't celebrate or in anyway glorify violence. It's just part of the world of 1658. So, it's up to each reader to decide. For myself, I'll be downloading the next book in the series.

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160 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too Much Reality

I started trying to listen to "The Hangman's Daughter" a while back, then had to stop for a while, to prepare myself emotionally for a subsequent attempt. Yikes! This audiobook opens with a scene so horrific and gut-wrenching that I couldn't bear it. Having now finally finished listening to the entire audiobook, I feel a bit shattered. If you have a gentle heart like mine, I warn you away from this novel. Perhaps its scenes of cruelty, torture, and bloodthirstiness establish a reality true to seventeenth-century Germany. Perhaps modern people everywhere would behave that way under similar conditions and circumstances. I hate to think so, and I have insurmountable difficulty understanding such human behavior. In any case, I don't look for those kinds of scenes in my entertainment, and I doubt that I will muster the courage to listen to "The Hangman's Daughter" again any time soon. If you have enough emotional toughness to disregard my warning, then you may find some merit in this novel. It does offer a pretty good mystery and pretty good writing -- although I have some suspicions about the translation. Pötzsch does provide good character development; only I'm having a little trouble believing the main character (who, by the way, is not the hangman's daughter, but the hangman, himself). Can a person who performs torture, dismemberment, and murder for a living really have a warm, loving, compassionate heart, with the gift of healing? As an herbalist, I do appreciate Pötzsch's apparent knowledge of herbs and their healing properties. Grover Gardner, the narrator of "The Hangman's Daughter," has an odd, throaty, but not unpleasant voice. He does an adequate, if undistinguished performance of this novel, lacking drama. In summation, I would recommend against this audiobook, unless you take an interest in medieval superstitions and torture techniques.

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132 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this...

I really wanted to like this book a lot. As in '5 stars' a lot. In theory it has a lot of things that would interest me. German? Check. Accurate medieval history? check. Murder mystery? check. Somehow, though, it just didn't come together. The clues weren't very well spaced out so there were multiple chapters in which nothing happened, nothing new was developed (not even the characters) and then the next clue would be dropped only to spend the next 4 chapters or so reiterating the new clue. The literary devices were a bit tired: the modern audience is meant to understand that the physician's son is one of the good guys because he drinks coffee and believes in the circulatory system. The translation from German was pretty good, but there were times when I found I could reconstruct the German phrase from the clumsy English translation because the word order was spot on for German and awkward in English. As for the whodunnit: in the end it didn't matter. The great reveal about who was behind everything felt anti-climactic and had no effect on the wrap-up of the plot. The orchestrator could have been John Doe or any character in the book and the ending would have been the same. Somehow, that seems wrong.

All in all, I was disappointed in the book and learned my lesson about believing Amazon when they say that 'everyone is reading this book because it's the best book ever'. Turns out, it was published by Amazon's in house publishing company. Lesson learned.

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

This was a fascinating book. Jacob Kuisl is the hangman of the town of Schongau, some years after the infamous Schongau witch trials. When two children are murdered under mysterious circumstances, the town midwife is accused of witchcraft. While Kuisl believes that the midwife is innocent, he must do his duty or lose his position. The book moves slowly in spots, but builds to an exciting finish. The details of town life, medicine, the aftermath of war, etc. give the book life and dimension. I highly recommend it.

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55 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping Medieval Mystery

This was a mesmerizing audio. I could not stop listening. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was also a great recreation of Medieval times in Germany. The suspense is maintained throughout the entire narrative and the pace is hectic. The final climatic fight is well done and terrifying in the extreme. I can't recommend this book highly enough. If you want a good satisfying Medieval mystery this is it.

The period detail is spot on and despite the immense amount of detail about Medieval life and customs, it never intereferes with the story but actually adds to the atmosphere.

If you want a great historical mystery this is it. I understand a sequel is coming and I hope Audible get it.

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51 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Down to Earth Historical Fiction

Where does The Hangman's Daughter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I really enjoyed the first in this series. Hangman's Daughter is interesting from a cultural/historical point of view but also a compelling story - a murder mystery, basically. This historical fiction is "down to earth" compared to many books of its sort and I could easily relate to many of the characters while still appreciating the historical and cultural differences between us. Reading the second in the series now and enjoying as well.

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never listened to GG before but he is perfect in this audiobook. His pronunciation of the German names and locations made listening to this book far more enjoyable than reading it. Perfect!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The hangman's support of a condemned, lowly woman is significant!

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great History Mystery

Where does The Hangman's Daughter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book is one of the best ones I have listened to, and I have listened to hundreds over the years. (I have a 3-hour+ commute each day via Interstate.)

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first encounter with Grover Gardner, but I think his rendition is excellent and fits the tone of the book handily.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I was really surprised when I looked at the reviews for this book. I thought that this book was average AT BEST. For a mystery it completely lacks any drive or urgency. Perhaps this is because I didn't care about any of the characters - some were flimsily drawn, some were robotic, and some were just down right comical. The plot was slow and plodded along (and along and along). There were chapters that, in my opinion, needed editing - nothing happened in them worth mentioning! While I am no medieval expert some of the things that were said or done just seemed unbelievable to me. Finally, the narrator didn't do much to help the robotic characters. I think he sounded at times like a computerized voice.

I really thought I would have liked this book. I sometimes like typical genre plots told in new settings to make them fresh, but I just couldn't connect with this book.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

PHAT WILL ALWAYS FLOAT TO THE TOP

THEN SHE KISSED HIM ON THE MOUTH. IT WAS BETTER THEN COFFEE.
This book does start with a gory, painful execution. The Hangman is also the town torturer, maker of love potions, etc... and it is bad luck to even look at him. His daughter is beautiful, but as the Hangman's daughter, she is ostracized by the town folk. The story is a multiple murder mystery of children, an adventure and a great look at the 1700's in Germany. The way people treat each other is unbelievable to us today. It was a hard world, with lots of poor uneducated people, taken advantage of by the rich.

As you would expect from a world like this, there are some strong characters. This is a character driven story of which the Hangman is outstanding. You will fall in love with his daughter who is also a strong willed character. She and a doctor (son of a bleeder) fall in love, but like Romeo and Juliet, it is not allowed. In the story a woman is accused of witchcraft and blamed for the death of the children. The Hangman knows she is innocent, but it is his job to torture her and get her confession. He with the help of the doctor must find out who is actually killing the kids before the accused witch confesses. Meanwhile the town starts accusing everything on witches and more people are accused of witchcraft.

At the end there is an afterword by the author. He has thoroughly researched this period. He got interested because he was tracing his own family roots and he discovered this line of Hangmen in his family history. This is educational as well as entertaining, my favorite way of learning about history.

I loved every minute of this book, and I am purchasing the sequel today. If you buy it before 4/21/15 you can get it for $6.99. If you like the type of books I like, I don't know how you can pass that up.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Why not call it "The Hangman?"

A pretty good "who done it" for any generation, but made far more interesting through the lens of 17th century witch fears and a picture of the real role of the hangmen of the period. Who knew they had families and lived regular lives? Although not gratuitous or overly gruesome, the violence is a bit shocking, but apparently accurate for the era. Recommended for lovers of historic fiction and mysteries.

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18 people found this helpful