THE GRAVEDIGGER'S ALMANAC (Die Totengräber #1) by Oliver Pötzsch (translated by Lisa Reinhardt) will be released in English on May 27, 2025, by HarperVia. The novel was published in German on January 1, 2021.
Leopold von Herzfeldt has just started his career as an inspector with the Vienna police, and he’s already gotten off to a bad start with his new colleagues when he tries to introduce new criminal investigative methods at a crime scene. The Vienna police are not impressed with Leo’s crime scene photographs or his arrogance, and he’s soon reduced to busy work. Meanwhile, a serial killer is stalking Vienna and murdering young housemaids in ways that reflect ancient vampire hunters. There is also someone digging up dead bodies to decapitate them. Leo is convinced that the murders and decapitations trace back to one suspect, and that the perpetrator is one of his new coworkers. Unable to trust anyone with Vienna police aside from an apprentice inspector and a secretary, Leo teams up with Augustin Rothmeyer, a surprisingly educated man who works as a gravedigger at Vienna’s Central Cemetery. Rothmeyer knows more about death than anyone else, and he provides Leo with valuable insight.
THE GRAVEDIGGER'S ALMANAC was an interesting read. Leopold von Herzfeldt is not a very likeable character—he’s arrogant and narrow-minded. And, despite being a student of modern criminalistics, he fails to follow the training that he constantly brags about and almost gets himself killed. Julia Wolf and Augustin Rothmeyer make up for Leo’s shortcomings and provide the reader with two main characters worth cheering for. Julia is a mysterious woman whose layers keep getting peeled back as the story progresses. She can be as narrow-minded and dogged as Leo, but she has none of his arrogance. On the other hand, Augustin is equally arrogant. It is his vast knowledge of death and his quirky personality that make his such an intriguing character. While the writing is a bit dry—I’m sure there is something that got lost in translation—Oliver Pötzsch kept me guessing until the end. The identities of the perpetrators came as a surprise. Pötzsch used Leo’s single-mindedness to misdirect the reader away from the identity of the true perpetrators.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.