2009 (German) and 2012 (English);
448 pages. Translator: Lee
Chadeayne. New Author? : No. Book 2 (out of 7) in the “Hangman’s Daughter” series. Genres : Murder-Mystery; Historical Fiction;
Thriller, German Literature. Overall Rating: 9*/10.
Eating too many donuts can
shorten your lifespan. That was true
even way back in 1660 AD. Just ask
Pastor Andreas Koppmeyer, the parish priest at St. Lawrence Church, in the tiny
hamlet of Schongau, Bavaria. Well, he can't answer you. He died
shortly after eating a couple of donuts.
If you want to get technical
about it though, it wasn't the donuts that killed him, it was the honey coating on the donuts. And if you want to get technical about that,
it wasn’t the honey that did him in, it was the hemlock poison that someone
spiked the honey with that was responsible for Pastor Koppmeyer’s demise.
Who would want to kill some
small-time priest in a backwater town like Schongau? And why?
There are a bunch of people
who want to find out, and several are more than willing to take part in the
investigation.
What’s To Like...
The
Dark Monk is the follow-up to the eponymous first book in this series,
which I read in 2016 and is reviewed here. That book's three main characters – Simon, Jakob (the Hangman), and Magdalena (the Hangman’s Daughter), are back, joined
this time by Benedikta, the slain priest’s sister.
Once again, Oliver Potzsch weaves a pleasant blend of Historical Fiction and Murder-Mystery into a fascinating tale. The plot threads flit among the four sleuths' POV as
they conduct their investigations, sometimes solo, sometimes as teams. There's a nice “feel” of 17th
century Germany as the Bavarian populace struggle against a raging plague and
murderous robbers harassing anyone daring enough to venture out beyond the city
walls.
For lovers of intrigue there
are riddles to solve (think Da Vinci Code),
treasure to find, tombs to search, and relics to desecrate. For those who like Romance in their novels,
there’s a love triangle involving three of our protagonists. For enthusiasts of blood and gore, there are
robbers to find and fight, public torture exhibitions, and wrongdoers to hang. And for foreign language fans, there’s lots
of Latin, German, and French phrases, including several colorful expletives.
All our heroes brave the
lawless countryside to visit nearby towns in search of clues. There’s a map of the area in the front if
you’re a stickler for geographic accuracy, plus a Cast of Characters which I found to be very
useful. In the back, there are sections
called “A Few Words in Conclusion” which is well worth your time, and “A Travel
Guide Through The Priests’ Corner” which will be worthwhile if you ever plan to vacation in Bavaria.
The ending is exciting and has
several nice twists to it. The mysteries
are solved, the bad guys are dispatched, and the heroes can rest up for the
next adventure, The Beggar King, which
resides on my Kindle. All the plot
threads are tied up save one, which is left as a “Natural
or Supernatural?” conundrum for the reader to muse upon.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 2,643
ratings and 2,038 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.87*/5,
based on 21,375 ratings and 1,590 reviews
Excerpts...
Only now did Simon notice that the corpse
lay directly over a tombstone with a relief of a woman who looked like the
Virgin Mary. The words of an inscription
circled her head like a halo.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
“Thus passes the glory of the world…” Simon
mumbled. “So true.” He had often seen this inscription on
gravestones. As far back as early Rome,
it was the custom for a slave to whisper these words to a victorious general on
his triumphal march through the city.
Nothing of this world lasts forever… (loc. 264)
“I’m telling you, Benedikta is a slut!”
“Aha!
A slut?” Simon lost his patience
now, and his voice took on an icy tone.
“This…slut has more decency and education than you’ll ever have in three
lifetimes. She knows how to behave, she
speaks proper German without stammering and stuttering, and she can even speak
French!” (loc. 1773)
Kindle Details…
The
Dark Monk presently sells for $6.49 at Amazon, with the rest of the books in the series ranging in
price from $5.49 to $6.99.
Oliver Potzsch has another half-dozen or so e-novels in English; they
will run you anywhere from $4.99 to $13.99.
“Fat, effeminate
moneybags! Even the Swedes wouldn’t have accepted them as hostages. (loc. 1126)
There’s not much to quibble
about in The Dark Monk. The cussing is sparse - just 15 instances in
the first 20%, and I don’t remember any of the violence being graphic.
For me, the riddle-solving
seemed obscure and forced. Even when I
read The Da Vinci Code many years ago, I
couldn’t help but wonder the why anyone would hide something incredibly
valuable, but then leave a trail of riddles behind. And here, if you’re hoping to solve the
riddles before our heroes do, all I can do is wish you “good luck”.
There were a couple of
all-too-convenient twists to the murder-mystery aspect. The poisoned honey only came into play
because the parish cook ran out of good honey that day. Are you telling me the baddies carry around
toxic honey “just in case” such a mishap occurs? Similarly, the
Ultimate Baddie (and titular “Dark Monk”), is ever so careful in everything he does, yet leaves a strong odor of violets behind him wherever he goes, due to his heavy use of perfume.
But I quibble. The violets and lethal honey contribute
to the page-turning tale, and I enjoyed watching our heroes solve those obtuse
riddles, much to the consternation of the baddies who were also trying to solve
them. The Dark Monk was every bit
as entertaining as The Hangman’s Daughter, and I’m looking forward to
reading the next book in the series.
9 Stars. We’ll close with a Latin phrase which plays a crucial role in The Dark Monk: “Deus le vult”, which translates into “God wills it”, and which was used down through the ages to justify all sorts of reprehensible acts in the name of religion.
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