The Dark Monk

I cracked open the pages of The Dark Monk with a certain amount of satisfaction and glee - to be rejoining a world I lost myself in with The Hangman's Daughter - to catch up with characters I'd fallen in love with some months ago - is always a heady feeling. I reviewed The Hangman's Daughter on my blog already, and mentioned I'd be looking for the sequels. On my last trip to the library, I happened to see all three of them, (The Dark Monk, The Beggar King, and The Poisoned Pilgrim - there are more after these three) so I snagged them with a grin that made my husband laugh. Pötzsch has continued his amazing storytelling in these three books, and I'm still amazed that books originally written in German can flow so well - lyrically, even - in English. I'm sure that's in large part due to the excellent translation work of Lee Chadeayne.

Jakob Kuisl (the hangman of Schongau), his daughter Magdalena, and her beau Simon Fronweiser are again up to their old tricks in these three books, letting their curiosity lead them into mysteries they perhaps should have stayed clear of. In The Dark Monk, the three find themselves embroiled in the hunt for lost Templar treasure. In The Beggar King, Jakob is framed for the murder of his sister, and must prove his innocence with the help of Magdalena and Simon. The Poisoned Pilgrim takes place a few years after The Beggar King, and involves the three attempting to prove the innocence of one of Jakob's oldest friends. Woven throughout the mysteries are portrayals of everyday (and not so everyday!) life in 17th century Bavaria, from taking care of the sick to child-rearing to executions.

One thing that continues to impress me about the books is how they treat torture. Torture to achieve a confession is a regular duty of a Hangman, but it's not treated lightly in these books. It's described, and it's treated as a horrible thing, but it's also not so descriptive that it crosses the line into gore. It's a mark of Pötzsch's skill that he can take a man that does this regularly - tortures and executes people, even people he knows are innocent, if he can't get out of it - and makes him likable. He makes us sympathize with him.

I enjoyed these three books just as much as I did the first. The action is well-paced, the plots are well-thought out and complex, and the characters are rich and enjoyable. It's easy to see the amount of research Pötzsch has put into his setting, and the books are richer for it. I love this series.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.