Drachenjungfrau (2016)

In the middle of the night, Salzburg detective Martin Merana is woken by his phone ringing. His spiritually gifted grandmother, Kristina, believes something terrible must have happened. The following day, the body of a 15-year-old girl is found at the Krimml Waterfalls, in Krimml, where Merana grew up and where his grandmother lives. Merana had left the place where he spent his childhood and avoided it ever since, after having bad experiences there as a child. The victim is Laura Striegler, who had won the local preliminary round of a traditional-costume girls’ pageant the day before. At first, several things point to suicide, but a heart-shaped stone is found in the dead girl’s hand, and someone must have placed it there. The murder case recalls the legend of the “Dragon Maiden,” after which the story is titled. Together with station commander Franziska Heilmayr, Merana sets out to look for clues and evidence. There are many suspects; some wanted to get close to Laura or even make sexual advances toward her. Laura herself disliked the beauty pageant, organized by a regional TV station. She felt harassed by the local men, especially by Mayor Erlinger, who had come up with the competition. Merana, who had once been in a relationship with Laura’s mother, Alma, and at one point considers it possible that he might be Laura’s father, reviews, among other things, a video recording of the event to narrow down the number of suspects. The suspects include Erlinger, who has an alibi; Laura’s stepfather, Merana’s archenemy since childhood; Heilmayr’s colleague Ankerl; a pageant contestant who had been eliminated; and Laura’s boyfriend, who was disappointed by her appearance in the pageant. Laura’s mother, who had pressured her to enter the competition, finally reveals the truth to Merana: Laura died by suicide in front of her eyes, throwing herself into the waterfall. The distraught mother placed the stone she had found on the riverbank in her dead daughter’s hands.