Lasser ermittelt - Ein Weinviertel Krimi (2025)

Crime investigator Giovanni “Joe” Lasser has a high case-clearance rate, but his unconventional methods lead his superior, Jana Winkler, to suspend him after his most recent operation. He also receives divorce papers from his estranged wife, Victoria, known as Vicky. She is the daughter of a wealthy wine-growing family and is now in a relationship with architect Steff Wagner. Lasser’s daughter Mina has a seasonal job at Frank “Franky” Streicher’s Heuriger tavern, “Vino Veritas”; his other daughter, Sara, is a police officer and the mother of Finn. During his enforced break, Victoria asks him for help. She is running for mayor in a municipality in the Weinviertel region of Lower Austria, and her boyfriend, Steff Wagner, has been kidnapped. Incumbent mayor Hans Gruber was seen at Vicky’s art exhibition shortly before the abduction. Gruber claims his vehicle was stolen. Sara finds the mayor’s car in the Danube, where it had been dumped after being set on fire. Mrs. Fauser had noticed that the garbage truck came to Victoria’s house the previous afternoon, which was unusual. The driver was David Platter Jr. Lasser suspects Platter had transported someone in the garbage truck. He secretly follows him into the woods, where Platter is shooting at posters of mayoral candidate Victoria with Kathi and Ingo. Lasser finds a photo on their cell phones showing the group at the Milian wine cellar. He goes there and finds Steff, but someone knocks him unconscious from behind. When he comes to, Steff has disappeared again. In his cabin, Lasser is attacked by Ingo, who admits that he and Kathi are being paid by David to sabotage Victoria’s campaign. Ingo had also set fire to the mayor’s vehicle and sunk it in the Danube to avoid leaving any DNA evidence. Investor Ferdinand Sturm is planning a hotel project, and Mayor Gruber is working on rezoning the land. In a video, the kidnappers demand that Victoria withdraw her candidacy, or else they will send her a body part of Steff’s by post for every additional hour that passes. Gruber had often been in contact with Arnulf Kogler by phone. Through Kathi, Lasser finds Kogler’s hideout in a ruined castle, where Kogler is holding Steff captive and ties Lasser up as well. With Sara’s help, Steff and Lasser are freed and the kidnappers arrested. Victoria is elected mayor after incumbent Gruber is arrested. Mina takes over “Vino Veritas.” Gruber was to receive 250,000 euros from Ferdinand Sturm in return for the rezoning. Lasser makes it clear to Sturm that he should take his business elsewhere. Lasser’s suspension is eventually lifted.