Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #28 – The Beggar King: A Hangman’s Daughter’s Tale by Oliver Potzch

The third book in the Hangman’s Daughter series starts in Shongau, where Jakob Kusil and his titular daughter live with the rest of their family and the various other Shongauians. Jakob leaves right at the beginning and goes to Regensburg – the big city. He received a letter saying his sister was very ill and needed him. She had run away from Shongau to marry a bath house owner. After Jakob leaves, Magdalena is her usual charming self, to the point that some of the less cool townspeople try to burn her house down, with her mom and younger siblings in it. The family escapes, but Magdalena decides she needs to leave the town.

Meanwhile, Jakob gets to Regensburg, goes to see his sister, and finds her and her husband dead. Interestingly the local constables show up right then and arrest Jakob for the murders. He’s clearly been set up, but he has no idea why or by whom. Magdalena and Simon head for Regensburg, find out what’s happened to Jakob, and set to investigating the crime. They also somehow are thought to be arsonists, maybe witches. They’re adopted by the local raftmaster, an Italian ambassador, and the homeless coalition.

Poor Jakob gets a dose of his own medicine while he is tortured by the local executioner, his torture being overseen by someone who takes great delight in his agony. Jakob also remembers the time when he was younger, a mercenary soldier, trying to keep his men in line, preventing them from raping and pillaging innocent villages.

There is quite a lot of running about and twists and turns in this book, with no one really knowing who to trust and who is trying to kill them. It seems like the only honorable people are Jakob and the Regensburg hangman, even though they’re thought to be the lowest of the low. It’s all wrapped up a bit neatly and violently at the end, but it all comes right in the end, or at least as right as things can be.

The fourth book is set to be released within the next month or so, I’ve already pre-ordered.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #27 – The Dark Monk: A Hangman’s Daughter Tale by Oliver Potzch

Book #2 in the series picks up not long after the events of the first book. Things have gone back to semi-normal in Shongau. It’s Winter, the snow is deep, and “doctor” Simon is called to the next town over to tend to a priest who has been poisoned. It’s murder, of course, so Jakob Kusil and his intrepid daughter Magdalena (with whom Simon is in love) get involved.

There’s a whole new cast of characters added to the Shongau locals – including the priest’s sister and a group of creepy monks. Oh, and the Knights Templar, since I think mystery/thriller writers are bound to use them in at least one story. The poisoned priest may have stumbled upon the lost treasure of the Templars, and the creepy monks don’t want anyone to find it but them. They somehow have a man on the inside in Shongau, and send Jakob off to chase robbers in the woods (which he of course figures out pretty quickly).

In the meantime, Magdalena is in peril (as she was in the last book), everyone is running around the countryside trying to find her, the treasure, the murderer, and maybe some other stuff. Potzch has definitely done his research, and knows the countryside well (he even includes a little travel info at the end). He can certainly spin a good yarn, too. There’s a bit of an interesting twist at the end that caught me a little bit by surprise, which I enjoy in murder mysteries.

Like I said in the last review, I enjoyed these books enough to recommend them to my mom – and if they’re good enough for mom, they’re good enough for everyone.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #26 – The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzch

The Hangman’s Daughter is the first book in a series written by Oliver Potzch, and are apparently based on the life of the author’s great great something or other, and are based in Bavaria in the mid-1600s. Normally one would refer to that time period as early Renaissance, but at least in the world of these books, the setting is definitely medieval.

Jakob Kusil is the hangman (executioner, torturer, garbageman, semi-doctor) of Shongau, a small walled town in Bavaria. Because Kusil is shunned by the townspeople (except for when they need him), he lives outside the walls, in the stinky part of town. He’s the son and grandson of executioners, and executioners are only allowed to marry the kids of executioners or some other sort of persona non grata. The whole social structure is very interesting, and way too much to go into here. Jakob has a daughter (of course) named Magdalena, although she doesn’t feature as heavily in the story as one would think.

Jakob is also probably the smartest guy in town. The second-smartest guy is probably Simon, the local “doctor’s” son, who is also a sort-of doctor himself. Both Jakob and Simon, along with another Jakob (Schreevogel) are the local renaissance men, although pretty much everyone else is well mired in the dark ages. This may have something to do with the war with the Swedes, and the remoteness of the location.

There is a series of murders, several young kids turn up dead with odd symbols on their shoulders, possibly a witch’s mark. So the townspeople of course blame the midwife (witch, bitch, same diff). Jakob knows she’s not guilty, but he still has to throw her in jail and torture her (standard operating procedure, she can’t be executed unless she confesses. Or she could die under torture. They’d be happy either way). Jakob tries to buy time so he can solve the murders and save the midwife.

A lot happens in this book, which is well-written. The story flows along nicely, even though I had to interrupt my reading a couple of times to look up the history parts. I’ve also read the next two books in the series, and pre-ordered the fourth. And as proof of how much I enjoy the books, I recommended them to my mother, who is in the middle of the second book.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #25 – The Paris Wife by Paula McClain

I picked this up to read on flights to the West Coast and back. I like to go old school paper books on planes because I can’t just sit there doing nothing during the times I’m supposed to have my Kindle off, and SkyMall gets old after a few pages. Anyway, I’d been wanting to read this for a while, the opportunity presented itself, and I’m glad it did.

Hadley Richardson was Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, the one who went with him to Paris (hence the name) and was with him during the lean years. She was quite a bit older than he was (especially for the time), but they fell in love fast, got married fast, and moved to Paris fast. Everything happened quickly for them, at least at the beginning. But then his writing was getting difficult, which brought him down. Hadley and Ernest met everyone who was anyone in Paris at that time, and Hadley felt she didn’t fit in. She wasn’t an heiress, wasn’t a flapper, wasn’t very chic or exciting. She was solid, steady, and wanted to be settled and start a family with the man she loved. She and Ernest loved each other madly, until everything changed.

Books rarely make me cry, but the end of Hadley and Ernest’s marriage brought me to tears (on an airplane, no less). The whole situation was heartbreaking. I guess I’m not spoiling anything, since it’s history and all, but basically Hadley’s friend Pauline stole Hemingway. At one point they were all pretty much living together, while they were in quarantine with Hadley and Ernest’s son. One of the few times Ernest and Hadley spoke after everything fell apart was decades later when Ernest was writing A Moveable Feast, about the Paris years. It looked to me like Ernest realized that he was so very wrong all those years ago, and was trying to atone. Not long after that, he was dead.

This was a very well-researched and well-written story. One needn’t be familiar with Ernest Hemingway’s work to enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #24 – Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Ok, this might be a long one. I have a lot to say about this book, and I’m not even sure how I feel about it. I think the accompanying picture of the Sticky Note Review comes pretty close.

Firstly, I didn’t read the book, this was a book-on-CD experience for me, and that may be part of the problem. The story is told in two voices, Ava and Kiwi Bigtree, brother and sister. Ava’s parts are in the first person, Kiwi’s in the third; Kiwi is voiced by an adult man, Ava is voiced by a young girl. That might make sense if the story was being told in the present tense, but it isn’t. The story is being told by Ava, at least some time after the events of the book occur, at one point she says it took her “years” to deal with a particular incident. However, and regardless of whether the age of the girl voicing Ava is correct, we also have a pronunciation problem. On some simple words, like “mangrove” and “Ocala.” I’m pretty sure you don’t need to live in Florida to know how to pronounce those words, but perhaps not. And regardless, Ava is a Floridian, so she should be able to pronounce the words correctly. It drove me nuts throughout the entire book.

Anyway. So. The story is about the Bigtree family, although that’s not their real name. Grandpa was originally Ernest Schedrach,but moved to Florida from the midwest after buying some literal swampland. He and his wife made it work, and thus was born Swamplandia(!). Also born was The Chief, who married Hilola Owens, brought her to Swamplandia(!) and turned her into an alligator wrestler. The island, the act, and the (pretty much) alligator farm was (for a time) a big attraction to a certain kind of tourist.

Grandpa Sawtooth calls all the alligators “Seths” – I can’t remember why. But regardless, throughout the book, Ava uses “Seth” to mean “alligator” way too often for my taste. Mostly because it’s stupid. Or is it Russell showing off her research and super brains? So let’s do the research. In mythology (or the bible, depending on your beliefs), Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve, born after the whole Cain/Abel kerfuffle. He’s believed to be Noah’s ancestor, and therefore the father of all mankind (if you believe that whole flood deal).

Sorry to go on about all of this – there’s really no sense in me going over the plot, there’s too much of it. But here’s the nutshell (here there be spoylers): Mom dies, the family falls apart. Dad disappears, Kiwi runs away and works at a rival attraction, Osceola (the middle child) believes she is dating and possessed by a ghost of a boy who died decades ago (and runs away to marry him), and Ava goes to look for her in the Everglades with the aid of the Birdman. The naivete of the Bigtree kids is heartbreaking, both for the reader, and for themselves. The Bigtree diaspora is resolved a bit too easily, but at that point the book I needed the book to end.

I still don’t know how I feel about the book, but I think I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it. Bits of it were well-written, but only bits. The rest were just too much.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #23 – Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Barchester Towers is the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which started with The Warden. We pick up a few years later with many of the same characters. Mr. Harding still isn’t the warden, and now his daughter (the one who married John Bold, the guy who caused the whole warden mess in the first place) is a widow. The update regarding this development is pretty short – she found out she was pregnant, he died, now she has a kid and lives with his sister. Boom.

Anyway, not a whole lot has been going on since then, other than the bishop (father of the archdeacon, who is married to the warden’s other daughter, and who was on the other side of the whole warden mess) has been very sick, and may be dying. It’s expected that his son is going to be named to be his replacement, but the government changes and they go another way. The new bishop is not terribly popular. He’s also dominated by his wife and his chaplain who want to change everything in our little town.

The rest of the story concerns all the machinations of the various people to get what they want, no matter who gets run over. Trollope introduces some interesting new characters, including a family returning to Barchester from Italy, and a bachelor scholar who may have feelings for the Widow Bold.

I’m enjoying this series, they’re definitely good to read in between more serious books. One fun thing Trollope does in this book more so than the first one is give his characters names to suit their situations: the curate with 14 kids is Mr. Quiverful; the striving tenant farmers are the Lookalofts; the happier farmers are the Greenacres. . . . It’s pretty fun spotting the names. I’ll be hitting the next book very soon.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #22 – City of Silence by Kim Wright

This is the third book in the City of Mystery series, and takes place in St. Petersburg (Russia, not the place where I live). The Scotland Yard forensics team heads to Russia at Queen Victoria’s request. Her favorite granddaughter, Alix, has fallen in love with a member of the Russian imperial family, and Vicki’s not happy about it. She has already lost one granddaughter to Russia, Ella, Alix’s sister. Ella’s letters seem to be a bit too cheerful, and the queen is skeptical. She was already suspicious, and sent Ella a “lady in waiting,” who is actually a spy.

The imperial family is all staying at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and is planning for a grand ball to celebrate Tchaikovsky’s triumphant return. There is to be a performance of Romeo & Juliet – or there was, until the leads were murdered in the theater. Ella doesn’t mention this to Victoria, but the spy reports on it. So Victoria decides to head there – with Alix and the team – to show Alix that Russia is not the place for her.

The team starts to investigate the murders, and figure out that there is a larger plot involving the student activists, including a young man named Vlad (see if you can guess who he turns out to be).

Thanks to my useless American education, I know next to nothing about Russian history. I had never heard of Ella, and looked her up. She turns out to have been really interesting (and Alix’s real name is Alexandra, so we know how her life ends up). I like books that make me want to do research. But, Ella – she married the Tsar’s younger brother, who might have been gay. Their marriage may never have been consummated. He was assassinated in a really horrible way, and she forgave the man who did it, and tried to prevent the man’s execution. Then she renounced all of her wealth, became a nun, and started a hospital. Then when the Bolsheviks took over, they arrested her, threw her down a mine shaft with a bunch of other people, threw in some grenades and some brush, set the brush on fire, and left. Not a great way to go.

So the book is fine, the story is fine, but the best part for me was learning about Princess Elisabeth of Hess and by Rhine, also known as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox church, and she is one of the 20th century martyrs honored at Westminster Abbey. I’m not sure if it’s out there, but someone needs to tell her story.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #21 – Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I got this book because it was by the same guy who did Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, which was a pretty fun read. Never saw this movie, probably never will. The conceit is that a man who considers himself a writer, but who hasn’t actually written anything, is given a journal. It turns out to be the secret journal of Abraham Lincoln, who is exactly who we remember him to be, and a whole lot more.

Yes, Abe is smart, dedicated, and honest. Except that history hasn’t been honest about Abe. Not only was he a great president, but he was also born to hunt and kill vampires. He has a special hatred for vampires, for a couple of reasons, one of which is that the vampires in the United States are using the slave trade for feeding purposes. He begins to follow his calling, clumsily, until he meets a vampire who also kills vampires, but only the bad ones. He trains Abe, who becomes the greatest vampire killer in the United States.

So not only was the Civil War about state’s rights and all that, but it was also to prevent the bad kind of vampires from turning the entire country into a nation of slaves for the vampires to use and nosh upon. There are some really good descriptions of battles that you think you know about – until you hear the real story.

This was definitely entertaining, and I’m likely the last person who has read it – but if you haven’t, and you enjoy this type of thing, then don’t wait any longer. It’s a fun, quick read, and you just might learn something about our 16th President.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #20 – City of Light by Kim Wright

This is the second book in the City of Mystery series, and if you haven’t figured it out, it takes place in Paris. A member of the Scotland Yard newly created forensics squad, Rayley Abrams, went to Paris in the last book to learn forensic techniques from the French, who were miles ahead of the Brits in the science. Also to get him out of the way during the Ripper investigation. He’s having a little trouble, since he barely speaks French, but gradually earns the respect of at least one detective.

The story is set just before the Exposition of 1889. The Eiffel Tower is being built, and people are coming to Paris from everywhere, some for good reasons, some for bad. Rayley meets the enchanting Isabel Delacroix, another Brit living in Paris. A British journalist befriended by Rayley is murdered, and is found at about the same spot along the Seine that the corpse of a young girl was also found several days before. Isabel asks Rayley for help, and when he goes to her, he instead is knocked out and held prisoner.

At the same time, the rest of the group is in London, and is assigned to investigate a brothel that specializes in young boys for closeted wealthy and powerful men. They find out about Rayley’s disappearance, and head to Paris to find him. As they investigate, they find out a number of unsavory and interesting things, and somehow the two cases are tied together.

This is another enjoyable mystery from Wright, who seems to have a knack for writing intricate plots that somehow don’t stretch the ability to suspend disbelief too far. She is able to weave all the threads together and bring them all home at the end. Wright is also not afraid to get gritty – the first book was pretty detailed about Jack the Ripper, and I won’t spoil what’s in this book. I have the same problem that I did with the first book: poor editing; not just spelling and punctuation, but vocabulary as well. I almost want to offer myself as an editor – I’d work cheap!

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR5 Review #19 – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Two of our Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund, are visiting with relatives – including their awful cousin Eustace. Eustace’s parents are supposedly modern, and their son is a total wiener. Lucy and Edmund can’t stand him, of course. One day, they’re in Lucy’s room, and they get sucked into a painting of a ship. Like you do.

They land in the sea, in Narnia. They’re rescued by the ship, which is captained by their old friend Caspian. Narnia is at peace, so he decided that it was time to explore. He was going to try to find his father’s old friends, who had been sent away by his nasty uncle to see what lay beyond the Lone Islands.

As they travel, Caspian learns that the outer reaches of his kingdom aren’t being run quite the way he wants, so while exploring, he also solves problems, does away with the slave trade, stuff like that. While they’re doing this, Eustace is still being a total wiener, but he learns his lesson when he wanders off and gets turned into a dragon. Aslan likes to teach lessons in interesting ways.

This is another of my favorite Narnia books, more of an adventure than some of the other stories. There is some sadness to this, because it’s the last time any of the Pevensies will return to Narnia, and the last time we see Reepicheep as well. I may be taking a break from Narnia for a bit. I started to read The Silver Chair, and I’m not enjoying it as much as I had the other books. Maybe a break will do us both some good.