Oliver Pötzsch’s Hangman’s Daughter series, focusing on a crime-solving German executioner in the 17th century, could easily be horrifyingly morbid. But his gruff protagonist, Jakob Kuisl, has managed to be a good guy, family man, healer and intrepid sleuth, all at once. In the fifth installment, THE WEREWOLF OF BAMBERG, Pötzsch paints a somewhat new Jakob, delving into the hangman’s largely unexplored and tragic backstory to produce a solid, if occasionally overwrought and verbose, mystery.

"Shrouded in mystery and tragedy, Bamberg is the standout character of the book."

The novel begins as Jakob and his family are headed to Bamberg for the wedding of that city’s executioner, who just so happens to be Jakob’s estranged brother, Bartholomäus. While stuck in a wagon traffic jam, the Kuisls come across a mysterious severed limb, only to find that Bamberg is beset by a murderous werewolf. As rumors of the beast’s torturous ways and reports of missing citizens begin raising old grievances from the dead, Jakob and his intrepid investigating team must discover the werewolf’s identity --- or risk their family’s entire future.

The most intriguing element introduced to the Kuisl family in THE WEREWOLF OF BAMBERG isn’t the endless rehashing of Bartl and Jakob’s long-ago falling-out, but the mysterious history of the city of Bamberg. Even though the Kuisls don’t hail from Bamberg, but the tiny town of Schongau, Pötzsch evokes a stunning portrait of a city wrenched apart from the inside by its recent history. Shrouded in mystery and tragedy, Bamberg is the standout character of the book.

Old favorites, like Jakob’s daughter, Magdalena, and son-in-law Simon get their time to shine. But his whiny youngest children are drawbacks from the Kuisl family appeal. Twins Barbara and Georg’s teen angst is an unappealing contrast to the emotional gravitas of family conflict and anguished scenes of painful torture. If the author had concentrated more closely on the mystery and eliminated some of the Kuisl family’s growing pains --- for both generations! --- THE WEREWOLF OF BAMBERG would have been even more of a standout read.