The Werewolf of Bamberg by Oliver Pötzsch

This is  the fifth book in 'The Hangman's Daughter' series. This is a mystery series; the 'detectives' are Jakob Kuisl, his daughter Magdalena and her husband Simon. Jakob is the hangman of Schongau in the 1600s. Every town in Germany has a hangman, responsible for torturing those accused of a crime until they confess - or die.

In 1668 the entire family travels to Bamberg to attend the wedding of Jakob's brother Bartholomaus. the hangman of Bamberg. On the way, their caravan is stalled by the discovery of a human arm in the river they must cross to get there. Once they arrive, they find that the town has been besieged by multiple murders; the bodies have signs of torture on them.

The town is in a panic, and decide that the murderer is a werewolf. A Witch's Commission is set up to determine who the werewolf is. The mass panic has neighbors turning against each other, and reporting suspicious behavior to the Commission.

The Kuisl family in unconvinced of the existence of werewolves, and set out to find the murderer.

 

610 pages
Translated from German by Lea  Chadeayne