book review: The Beggar King (The Hangman’s Daughter, #3)

Book Cover: The Beggar King

The Beggar King: A Hangman’s Daughter Tale  by Oliver Pötzsch

My rating:  4.5 / 5

The Beggar King is the third installment in the Hangman’s Daughter series.  The series features a hangman, or executioner, as one of the three main characters.  Set in mid-17th century Bavaria, these novels combine the mystery of a detective thriller with well-researched historical fiction.

The hangman, Jacob Kuisl, is the predominant lead character in the first of the series.  As the series progresses, the hangman’s daughter, Magdalena, and Simon, the town medicus (physician), join him at the forefront.

These novels aren’t for everyone.  If you don’t like detective or mystery novels, you probably won’t enjoy these.  Likewise if you aren’t into historical fiction.  However, if a good well-written story and interesting characters is all you need, then you just might love this series.  I found that I enjoyed each subsequent novel more than the previous, mainly because the characters become more and more developed and the mysteries seemed to get more interesting.

book review: Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel

Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley

My rating:  5 / 5

Flavia de Luce is an 11 year-old amateur detective with a passion for chemistry and an eccentric family.  Despite living in a sleepy english village, known as Bishop’s Lacey, Flavia somehow manages to find herself enmeshed in yet another murder.

This is the 5th book in the series, and thus the 5th murder investigation for our heroine, Flavia.  Set in the 1950’s, there are no cell phones, computers or anything more technologically advanced than a standard landline phone.  And even that is off limits except for emergencies in Flavia’s home, Father’s orders.

I have thoroughly enjoyed each book in this series, and am quite happy that the series continues to be excellent.  I wasn’t sure when I read the first one if I would enjoy a detective / mystery series with an 11 year old as the protagonist, but I have to say that Flavia is a very well written character and that her age does not detract from the story in any way.