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.

Awful narration!

I’m not finished with this book yet, but whoa. The narration is awful. Seeing as how the book is set in old Eastern Europe, couldn’t they at least have gotten someone who can do accents….ANY accents???? The guy reading this is all-American who doesn’t even attempt to make the dialogue sound believable. Just his flat, boring man-voice. Ugh. Horrible.

good listen.

story: kept my listening till the end. I truly did enjoy the mystery.

performance: I almost didn't get this one because I didn't like the sample but I'm glad I did as his voice grew on me and seemed to fit the story.

Why the Title?

Although the information is considered to be factual, I found much of the book to be boring. I would have preferred that it not have been written as fiction.

Best of all❤️❤️❤️❤️

After growing up with Armenian old stories and reading Hans Christian Andersen this book is by far my favorite 🤩. I am moving to the next one .

Travel back in history

I was looking for a fall, historical mystery. Maybe something a little spooky, and this it the spot. At first I wasn't sure I like the narrator after I got into the first chapter, realized he was the perfect fit for this book. Really loved it and finished it in two days.

Excellent Tale

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I was between books and was looking for something that would be mildly entertaining. I noticed that these series of books had really gotten good reviews, so I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a try.

This story held my interest throughout the book and whenever I had to stop, I somewhat impatiently waited to have time to pick it up again. The story weaves in and out without losing the reader and the characters are fully developed. The story comes to a satisfactory end, not one that leaves you hanging.

As soon as I finished, I bought the next in the series. If you purchase this book/audiobook, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

PS: Grover Gardner is an excellent narrator, as usual.

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

Most definitely kept me on the edge. Peril lies at every turn.

Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favorite?

They are all performed superbly. Simon was my favorite character, but that is mainly due to the author's development of the character.

Wish I'd read the book!

This was a great book, very engaging, but the narrator was just awful! Lacking any inflection, he rattled on in a monotone, even when describing some really harrowing bits of the story. Still well worth a listen, I wish I'd read the book, since I think I would have given this a 5-star rating. The narrator almost killed it for me.

Wonderful concept - just Ok writing

The idea that the town's executioner should be more worried about justice than the burghers is a great premise. The story moves along, but the repetition in the prose is off-putting. Character development is slow and that's not always bad - but in this case, some of the major characters are still incomplete at the end of the book. Hints are given, but clarity would be nice. I found it strange that the reformation was totally ignored.

Medieval Mystery

First, if you don't want to hear graphic descriptions of torture and life in the mid-1600s then you might want to avoid this book. The local midwife has been accused of witchcraft and tossed in prison. Back in those days people were tortured until they got a confession so there are several descriptive torture scenes. The townspeople believe in witchcraft and devils (this story takes place 70 years after the witch trials where about 60 women were accused of witchcraft and killed) and see signs of it in the most innocent of things and hysteria starts to rise and demands are made for the midwife/witch to be killed. Mob mentality arises and has to be subdued.

As I said earlier, the book gets very graphic in descriptions of the hangman's trade and also other atrocities committed by the mercenaries of the time and also the treatment of women and children.

The title is a little misleading in that even though the hangman does have a daughter and she plays a small role, the majority of the book is centered around the hangman and the university-educated son of the local doctor trying to figure out who is responsible for the murders and destruction of property since they believe in the midwife's innocence.

This book reminded me a little of Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon which centered around a witch trial in 1699. If you enjoyed that book you would probably enjoy this one as well.

A great read.

I bought the first book on a fluke and loved every minute. Since then, I've listened to the whole series, and passionately awaiting the next issue.