Sometimes you get all the things you like in one bite! Much like the chocolate turtles with their chocolate, nutty, and gooey caramel goodness that I love, this book has all the things I like in books, a mystery set in medieval Europe with protagonists who are interesting and different from the norm.

Magdalena is the daughter of the village hangman, Jakob Kusil. She lives with her family in the small town of Schongau in Bavaria but they are ostracized by the villagers because of her father’s work as the town’s executioner. Magdalena feels this antipathy most keenly now that she is of marriageable age, and realizes that no one will want to have her marry their sons, even if she has become very clever with making herbal remedies and has been apprenticing with the local midwife. She has been seeing a local man named Simon, but she knows he has a roving eye, and her father has been trying to persuade her to marry another hangman in the city of Augsburg who was recently widowed. Her limited choices have made her irritable and so when the neighborhood women who had gathered to support their friend during a difficult labor accuse her of jinxing the birth, she snaps at the women, causes a scene and the midwife has to ask her to leave to restore order. Which is why she is in the street when a beautiful woman rides up on an imposing stallion. The woman calls out to Magdalena and introduces herself as Benedikta. She explains that she is the sister to one of the pastor’s in the community, an Andreas Koppmeyer, and wonders if Magdalena might be willing to direct her to her brother’s church. Glad to get away from the scene of her humiliation, Magdalena, happily shows this strange and exotic woman to the church. but once they get there they discover both Simon and Jakob investigating the scene of a murder-Andreas Koppmeyer’s murder, and soon all five are caught up in the quest to find out who has done this terrible deed.

Potzsch has researched the time period extensively and the character of the hangman is based on his own family’s history of several generations of hangman’s in the family lineage. This is the second in the series, the first being The Hangman’s Daughter, and I find that what I really enjoy about these books is that you really get a sense of how people lived. Potzsch describes the cold, how the roads were rutted and muddy, the warmth of the tavern and the smell of beer and stew, the light through stained glass, and the penetrating cold of a church. He obviously loves the area in Bavaria where his books are set, and is able to give a sense of geography and setting that brings the story to life.

I hope you will give this series a try. They certainly have been quite enjoyable and satisfying to me!

Brenda’s Rating *** 1/2 (3 1/2 out of 5 Stars)  

Recommend this book to: Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy: yes

Read in ebook format.