The German Book Office in New York has chosen The Beggar King: A Hangman's Daughter Tale by Oliver Pötzsch, translated by Lee Chadeayne (Mariner Books, $18, 9780547992198) as its January Book of the Month.
The GBO wrote: "Filled with fascinating historical detail, The Beggar King brings to vibrant life another tremendous tale of an unlikely hangman and his tough-as-nails daughter, confirming Pötzsch's mettle as a storyteller at the height of his powers. The third installment in the internationally best-selling Hangman's Daughter series, the author returns once again to the thrilling mysteries of 17th-century Bavaria and the hangman Jakob Kuisl.
"The Beggar King takes readers back to 1662, in the sultriest summer in recent memory, when Jakob Kuisl, the cranky yet sympathetic hangman of a village in the Alps, is summoned north to Regensburg by a letter from his sick sister. A gruesome sight awaits him: his sister and brother-in-law lie in pools of their own blood, their throats slit. When he is discovered alongside the corpses, Kuisl is locked in a dungeon where he will experience first-hand the torture which he has expertly performed for years. Kuisl's steely daughter, Magdalena, and her young doctor paramour, Simon, rush to Regensburg and try to save Jakob. Navigating the labyrinthine city, they learn there is much more behind the false accusation than a personal vendetta: there is a plan that will endanger the entire German Empire."
For years, Pötzsch was a radio personality for Bavarian radio and a screenwriter for Bavarian Public Television. He is a descendant of the Kuisls, the well-known line of Bavarian executioners who inspired his novels.
Chadeayne is a former classical musician and college professor who was a charter member of the American Literary Translators Association. He is editor in chief of the ALTA Newsletter.
Incidentally, the GBO has a video of New Books in German highlights from 2012 that makes for a short literary journey from Berlin to Zurich and includes a special take on the winner of the German Book Prize.