Die Bestatterin - Zweieinhalb Tote (2023)

Undertaker Lisa Taubenbaum and her brother are called to the scene of an accident. A car has broken through a bridge railing and plunged into a river; two bodies have been recovered. Lisa recognizes the car, but since its owner is not among the two dead, she immediately knows something is wrong: Mario is missing, and he would never have let anyone else drive his beloved car! So where is Mario, the car’s actual owner? Is he dead, or did he cause the accident and go on the run? Whatever the case, Inspector Zellinger is convinced it was an ordinary accident and dismisses Lisa’s account. Only when it emerges that the car’s brake hoses had been tampered with does the police investigation pick up speed. Lisa also resumes her own unofficial “investigation”—after all, she and Mario were a couple back in school. The clues increasingly point to the possibility that the victims were mistaken for someone else. One of them was in debt and had recently taken out a large life insurance policy. This could provide another motive, but Lisa doesn’t think it is likely. As she makes inquiries, she finds the place where someone probably cut the brake hoses. When she gets hungry, she stops at a bakery. The owner seems very dejected because his business is on the verge of closing. Until recently, he had run the bakery with his sister, but ever since she had an accident at work, he has been on his own and can no longer manage without help from his family. That evening, Mario turns up safe and sound, and the victims’ families want to hold him responsible for their relatives’ deaths. Nobody wants him around, so he seeks refuge with Lisa. She also accompanies him to the police station so he can give a statement. He says he had lent his friends his car because he had somewhere else to go. However, he refuses to say where, and swears he did nothing to his friends. Lisa secretly searches Mario’s belongings and finds a restaurant receipt. She goes there and learns that he had met with a woman. It is only when she confronts Mario that she finds out the woman was Jasmin Rebele, the baker’s sister. He explains that he met Jasmin by chance and fell in love with her. But since he was already married, he ended the relationship. A short time later, she had an accident at work in which she lost her left hand. Whether it was caused by intent or inattention is unclear, but he felt guilty and then regularly looked after Jasmin. His friends would always give him an alibi so his wife wouldn’t find out. After an attempt is made on Lisa’s brother, who was wearing Mario’s jacket that day, Lisa realizes that someone is after Mario. At first, she suspects Mario’s father-in-law because Mario had dipped into his slush fund. But it turns out there is a completely different culprit: Jasmin’s brother. Furious at having to close the bakery, which had been in the family for three generations, he wants revenge on Mario because he considers him the cause of his problems. Since cutting the brake hose did not have the hoped-for result, he acts again. This time, he gets Mario and kidnaps him. Lisa goes with Inspector Zellinger to the bakery and tells Jasmin to come there too. Together, they manage to persuade Niklas Rebele to give up. At the end, Lisa and Inspector Zellinger meet for a tryst in his car.