Bis in die Seele ist mir kalt (2024)

In winter, there is a spate of deaths around Lake Ossiach. An unidentified woman’s body is washed ashore by the mini-golf course, the diabetic Diringer dies of hyperglycemia on a park bench, and another person, Mrs. Strohmeyer, is found dead in her home. The deceased were all older people who lived alone, and their deaths may have been age-related. However, police officer Martina Schober and her superior, Christian Rauchenberger, suspect that something is wrong. In at least two cases, the cause of death is unclear, so they bring Chief Inspector Acham from the Klagenfurt State Criminal Police Office into the investigation. According to the autopsy, foreign fingerprints were found on Diringer; presumably, a ring was pulled from her finger after her death. In addition, matching DNA from another person is found on both Diringer and Strohmeyer. Strohmeyer had taken strong laxatives. Dr. Jassim, a physician from Iraq, took over the practice from his predecessor two months ago, and the handwritten notes are difficult to read. Diringer’s and Strohmeyer’s accounts have been emptied over the past few months. Ute Patterer supplies older people with groceries from her health-food store and offers to help them. Ute’s boyfriend, Gregor, has been paralyzed from the waist down for a year, after falling from a ladder at Mrs. Diringer’s home. The suspects also include real estate agent Leo Fuhrmann, who is interested in the deceased people’s houses, and Mario, an unemployed man who lost his driver’s license for drunk driving. A masked person knocks Fuhrmann down at night, and the threat “Furmann (sic!), you’re next” is found on his house. A handwriting sample identifies Mario as the culprit, and he is arrested. An elderly couple had transferred their house to Fuhrmann in exchange for a lifetime annuity. The couple died shortly afterward from carbon monoxide poisoning following a fire in the house. It was never established whether the fire was an accident. Fuhrmann later built a new house on the property. Mario took Mrs. Diringer’s ring after Jenny, the boat-rental operator, told him that help wasn’t coming [the rescue service had taken an unreasonably long time to arrive]. Mario thought Mrs. Diringer still owed him something, since he had previously sold her car for her. Andreas Spielberger discovers that his own account has also been emptied and accuses Ute Patterer, who has large debts to the bank. Spielberger calls Chief Inspector Acham to report his suspicions and is found dead by the police shortly afterward. Since Mario was in custody at the time of the crime, he cannot have been the culprit. Acham discovers that Ute had been at Spielberger’s, whereupon Ute knocks her down and ties her up. While out taking photographs, Leo Fuhrmann finds Acham in an outbuilding at Mrs. Gritznig’s property and is also knocked down and tied up by Ute. Gritznig calls the police about noises, but at first no one there believes her. Fuhrmann tells Acham that he was in a relationship with Martina until she unexpectedly left him. After Gritznig shoots at the mail carrier, she is questioned, and police officer Schober does follow up on her report of the noises. She eventually finds Patterer, Fuhrmann, and Acham, and Ute is arrested by the police officer.