Hangman's Daughter Books in Order

The Hangman's Daughter is Oliver Potzsch's best-known historical mystery world, built around the Kuisl family of Schongau. The series draws on the author's own Bavarian ancestry, but it is not a neat family chronicle. It is a run of dark, fast-moving mysteries about murder, superstition, medicine, and the ugly side of public justice.

At the center is Jakob Kuisl, the hangman. In his town, the job makes him necessary and untouchable at the same time. People call for him when they need punishment, a confession, a body examined, or a wound treated, then step away from him in the street. That contradiction gives the books much of their bite.

Jakob sees what polite people pretend not to see.

Magdalena, his clever daughter, and Simon Fronwieser, the young physician's son, give the series its emotional spine. Their connection crosses class and profession lines, which makes it risky from the start. They are not just side characters orbiting Jakob. They question him, help him, and sometimes pull him toward truths he would rather curse at first.

The first book, The Hangman's Daughter, opens with a dead or dying child, a mark that looks like witchcraft, and a midwife placed in terrible danger. From there, the series keeps returning to the same problem in different forms: a frightened community wants a simple monster, while the Kuisls have to search for a real killer. The setting makes that harder. Bavaria is full of war damage, religious fear, local grudges, and officials who care more about order than truth.

As the books continue, the family travels beyond Schongau. The Dark Monk uses church secrets and Templar legends. The Beggar King sends Jakob into a trap in Regensburg. The Poisoned Pilgrim brings invention and monastic intrigue into the mix. The Werewolf of Bamberg turns folk terror into a murder case, The Play of Death uses Oberammergau and its passion play, and The Council of Twelve brings Jakob face to face with other hangmen in Munich.

The tone is gritty but readable. Expect family arguments, tavern talk, dead bodies, herbal remedies, bad weather, and plenty of people who mistake fear for faith. Read the books in publication order, beginning with The Hangman's Daughter, because the cases stand alone better when you know how the Kuisls got there.