1648: a small village in the Alps. In the thick of a blizzard, a town priest discovers he's been poisoned. As numbness creeps up his body, he summons the last of his strength, scratching a sign in the frost that will lead the town hangman, his daughter, the physician, and the priest's feisty, recently arrived, sister on a scavenger hunt for the treasure of the Knights Templars. But the priest's murderer is already on their trail, and he's not the only one after the legendary fortune: a dark monk is not far behind, and a band of thieves is roving the countryside, attacking solitary travellers and spreading panic. The race is on, and the stakes are high. Recalling The Name of the Rose and The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Monk takes readers on a whirlwind tour through the occult hiding places of Bavaria's ancient monasteries. AUTHOR: Oliver Potzsch, born in 1970, was for years a radio personality for Bavarian radio and a screenwriter for Bavarian public television. He is a descendant of the Kuisls, the well known line of Bavarian executioners that inspired the novel.
