The Hangman's Daughter

A Hangman's Daughter Tale, Book 1

By: Oliver Pötzsch, Lee Chadeayne - translator

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins

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.

Extraordinary tale from long ago.

I discovered this Author by chance and bought the title as a special. Within a few chapters I was hooked and found it hard to put down. (I will add that Grover Gardner is a favourite of mine also.)

The language , plot and characters are wonderfully woven and describe a period in European life that is long forgotten.

I think the emphasis on ordinary people , their lives , their joys and fears endears me to the Author and his story.

I have already purchased and read the second title - The Dark Monk.

A little slow in the middle but overall worth it

If you could sum up The Hangman's Daughter in three words, what would they be?

I found Grover Gardner to be hard to listen to at first, but as the multiple characters entered the story he did an impressive job altering tone and inflection along with volume and pace to differentiate them easily.

The story would have been even more enjoyable had I heard the post-script first; that this fiction piece is actually rooted in true to life events with many real characters. The author of course takes creative license but now knowing many of the people and places, and the main story line are actual events makes it that much more enjoyable for me.

It's a little slow in the middle but there's good character development and it's a good story. Overall definitely worth the listen.

Great story!

it was a bit gory but a really good story and mystery. the history at the end was really cool!

Fantastic book

This book is exceptionally long, but I wouldn't cut any part of it out. It is gruesome and macabre but not in a artificial, gory for the sake of gory way. It is just what life was back then: horrible. I was satisfied with the ending, and I wish there were sequels. The narration is perfect.

unique for the most part

it felt very original for the most part, there were points where it settles into the usual formulas but not so bad that I didn't want to listen to the next book in the series... which I'm starting right now.

Surprise!

A very interesting and surprisingly historical novel. Not much is written about those times. Be sure to listen to the epilog. It really brought it all together and you just think..
WOW!

Great Book

really enjoyed this one. a book that will keep you captivated pick this up and enjoy!

A typical murder mystery with history mixed in

This wasn't the best or worst book I've listened to. If you're expecting a riveting adventure, or some sort of fantasy novel, this likely isn't the book for you. If you're a fan of classic murder mysteries like Agatha Christie's books, then add in some little interesting bits of German witch-hunting history similar to what we've come to associate with Salem, MA, and you'll have this novel here. I wouldn't listen to it again, but I'm not a huge fan of mystery as a genre.

That said, the narrator did a pretty good job overall. Some of the characters are easy to confuse, but only if it's hard for you to follow German names with similar sounds. The main characters' names and the narrator's voices for them are different enough that it's easy to know them apart.

My overall review is 4-stars. Anything less is a discredit to the author, but anything more is giving the storyline and execution more credit than it deserves.

Fun!

It's like a 17th century convoluted whodunit with witches, hangmen, quack doctors, and children! As grim as it was, it was fun and sucked me in immediately!

I'm kicking myself for not reading this a lot sooner. It had been sitting in my Wish List for over a year if not more and I finally got around to it.

I will definitely be continuing the series!

Surprisingly good

What made the experience of listening to The Hangman's Daughter the most enjoyable?

I went into this not knowing what to expect. First it was a translation, then it was historical fiction which differs a lot from my usual contemporary reads.

It was an excellent "whodunit". I just wanted to scream at the ignorance and superstition of the German villagers, but after all, it was roughly the same time as the Salem witch trials, so it wasn't unique to German peasants.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Just enough peril to the good guys, and I had no idea until the end who the mastermind was.

What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Inflection and pronunciations.