A Leopold von Herzfeldt Case: Book 1
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
The New York Times bestselling author of The Hangman’s Daughter returns with the first volume in a brand-new mystery series which introduces a gravedigger and young inspector who must stop a serial killer in fin de siecle Vienna—the period during which modern criminology was born.
Vienna, 1893. A gravedigger at the city’s famous Central Cemetery, Augustin Rothmayer is an unorthodox yet highly educated oddball who finds solace amongst the dead as well as in the writing the pages of the first almanac of his profession. But his fragile peace is abruptly disturbed when young inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt, an ambitious young transfer from Graz, arrives in need of help from someone expert in death. No one knows the subject better than Augustin Rothmeyer.
A superstitious killer is on the loose. His victims include several maids, each brutally staked. Recognizing the killer is using an ancient ritual for keeping the undead buried, the gravedigger joins the inspector on a journey that will take them deep into the underworld of their glamorous cosmopolitan city. In their search for a depraved monster, they receive unexpected help from telephone operator Julia Wolf, who impresses them with her unusual insight even as she fights her own personal demons.
Oliver Pötzsch’s inventive historical crime series delivers the thrills and historical detail modern international mystery fans crave: a grippingly plotted mystery, a rich and painstakingly researched setting, a fascinating look into the beginnings of modern criminology, and an unlikely and unforgettable trio of characters.
A serial killer is on the loose in the streets of Vienna, and time is running out to catch them in The Gravedigger’s Almanac by Oliver Pötzsch.
Leopold von Herzfeldt is ready to make a big splash as a new inspector with the Vienna police force. Pushing himself onto the scene of a grizzly murder, he is enthralled by the scene, and his colleagues are frustrated with this young new upstart.
Leo is eager to use new forensic techniques in old-school Vienna, but the other inspectors are wary at best and outright defiant at worst. Leo is quickly taken off the case and put onto one that seems mundane, at least at first glance. Meeting the gravedigger, Augustin Rothmayer, at the famous Central Cemetery, Leo doesn’t think much of him at first.
However, there is more to Augustin than meets the eye. He, too, is well-educated and has a keen eye for forensics. What seems like a routine case turns into much more, and Leo and Augustin must dig deeper to see how a serial killer murdering young women in a ritualistic manner, and the now suspicious suicide of a well-to-do man fit together before any other woman winds up dead.
Pötzsch does a fantastic job of transporting you back in time with his writing. He doesn’t hold back and makes the language match the 1890s of the setting. I enjoyed the twists and turns the book doles out and like the main characters we are introduced to. I can easily see how this would be a series you would want to continue to follow as soon as a new book is released. For me, however, while the writing was gripping, it also tended to go into far more detail than I thought was needed. If some of the unnecessary details were trimmed down, this book would have been much easier to get into. Not only were there too many details, but the style itself was very flowery. While this may work in some instances, it often felt too much for me. I wanted to move on with the story, not read an entire paragraph describing a building we may never encounter again.
The Gravedigger’s Almanac was a great historical mystery that transports the reader straight into the heart of Vienna.
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.
