-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Leopold von Herzfeldt Case #2
by Oliver Pötzsch
When the mummified remains of a famed Egyptologist are discovered in the Vienna art museum, Inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt reunites with gravedigger Augustin Rothmayer to excavate the city's dark underbelly in this thrilling historical mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hangman's Daughter and The Gravedigger's Almanac.
Vienna 1894. Augustin Rothmayer, the oddball gravedigger from Vienna's Central Cemetery, is approached by Inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt with an unusual favor: he needs Augustin to teach him everything he knows about preserving a dead body, information vital to a new investigation.
Opening an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, employees of Vienna's Museum of Art History have discovered the well- (and quite recently) preserved body of Alfons Strössner, famed professor of Egyptology. Some believe that the professor was the victim of an ancient curse. But neither Rothmayer nor von Herzfeldt give credence to such superstitious rumors. They are certain it was murder.
The trail to unmask a killer leads them to fin-de-siecle Vienna's unscrupulous upper class and to some eccentric and unusual places, including "mummy parties" and human zoos. An engrossing and twisting historical mystery, The Girl and the Gravedigger once again brings turn-of-the-century Vienna to life in all its glitter and grime.
"Other elements may also test the reader's patience, including contrived romantic troubles between Leo and Julia, but this is still a supremely enjoyable, well-researched adventure. Readers will have fun." —Publishers Weekly
"A vivid period mystery with an engaging trio of protagonists." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about The Girl and the Gravedigger was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born in 1970, Oliver Pötzsch is the New York Times bestselling author of the Hangman's Daughter series and the Leopold von Herzfeldt series and has worked for years as a scriptwriter for Bavarian television. A descendant of one of Bavaria's leading dynasties of executioners, Pötzsch lives in Munich with his family.
If you liked The Girl and the Gravedigger, try these:
by Steve Sem-Sandberg
Published 2017
Passionately serious, meticulously researched, and deeply profound, this extraordinary and dramatic novel bears witness to oppression and injustice, and offers invaluable and necessary insight into an intolerable chapter in Austria's past.
by Lene Kaaberbol
Published 2016
From the coauthor of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Boy in the Suitcase, a "gripping plot" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and captivating historical thriller.
by Dan Vyleta
Published 2012
Vienna, 1939. Professor Speckstein's dog has been brutally killed, the latest victim in a string of unsolved murders. Speckstein wants answers - but these are uncharitable times, and one must be careful where one probes...
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
