The Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Pötzsch
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Potzsch’s The Ludwig Conspiracy seems to be a rather poor Northern European version of the Da Vinci Code. In his novel, a book seller and a young art detective roam through the castles of Bavarian King Ludwig II looking for clues to solve a hidden puzzle. The primary sleuthing revolves around the mysterious death of Ludwig II.

I was unaware of the strange and inconsistent circumstances surrounding his death. While the odd ‘facts’ of the case do lend themselves to a mystery novel something in Potzsch’s execution of the story is lacking. The book so closely mirrors Da Vinci Code in so many ways that it is a distraction to paying to attention to Potzsch’s plot. To be fair— I enjoyed the Da Vinci code for what it was worth— but I was not among its major fans! So for me, a weaker version of the story was a little painful.

Additionally, and I do not fault the author for this, the dialog came across as rather stilted. Something about the cadence of the speech was off putting. I am going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and attribute this to the translation. Perhaps, it was better in the original.

Finally, I really did enjoy Potzsch’s Hangman’s Daughter series and plan to read his upcoming release in October .

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