The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch

The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch

The Hangman's Daughter Series, Book 2

Publisher: AmazonCrossing (June 2012)

516 pages, eBook (purchased myself for $2.99)

Book Rating: 4 Stars
Content Note: Includes Swearing and Violence

With a band of robbers reeking havoc near Schongau and a dead priest found poisoned, the Hangman, his daughter Magdalena and Simon are launched into a mystery surrounding some monks and a treasure hunt of sorts involving the Knights Templar. With the arrival of the dead priest's attractive sister, Benedikta, Magdalena goes into a jealous snit, while Simon spends the greater part of the book investigating with Benedikta instead of Magdalena at his side, the hangman and Magdalena going off on adventures of their own. I didn't care much for Benedikta, but probably mainly out of sympathy for Magdalena in the beginning. I'm not sure what a hangman's daughter sees in a little dainty man like Simon other than his intellect, but I didn't care for his flirtations or his lustful thoughts about Benedikta, and I wished Magdalena could go for Philipp Hartmann (the Augsburg hangman), because he seemed so nice and a much better match, but apparently she must torture herself with Simon. Other than that, the mystery was great and I liked how all the different plots come together so nicely in the end. The next book in this series is The Beggar King.