Steirerstern (2022)

Jana Skoff, singer in the folk music group Jana and the Lausbuam, and Alex Dorner, rock singer in an all-girl band, have been a couple for three weeks. They are also linked by the Soundjack recording studio, owned by producer Jack Riedl, where both groups recorded their most recent music. After Alex is found dead in the bathhouse by her bandmate Ella, the medical examiner assumes she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. However, Sascha Bergmann of the Graz State Criminal Police Office and his colleague Anni Sulmtaler soon discover that someone else was responsible and that Alex was murdered. A towel was found in the exhaust pipe of the stove, which is attached to the outside of the bathhouse, blocking the vent. The investigators question the suspects, including Fredi, a former heating technician who was seen by Ella near the bathhouse on the night of the murder. Jana’s husband, Hubert Skoff, also had a motive, as did her brother Dominik Wachter, who is likewise a member of the Lausbuam. Jealousy was one possible motive, but there were professional reasons, too: Jana wanted to change her musical direction and perform with Alex and her band, which would have meant the end of the Lausbuam. Producer Jack Riedl was also unhappy about this and threatened Jana and her mother, saying that if Jana really left the Lausbuam, he would demand repayment of his advance. Jana’s parents, Lorenz and Josefine Wachter, disapproved of her relationship with Alex, partly because they believed it put the Lausbuam’s success at risk. Neither Dominik Wachter nor Hubert Skoff has an alibi for the time of the murder, and both had a motive because the Lausbuam’s impending breakup would have caused financial problems. Alex’s former relationship with bandmate Luca Karall gives her a possible motive as well. Luca had saved Alex’s life three years earlier, so she might think she could take it from her now, after having “given” it to her before. Jana also suspects Luca of murdering Alex out of jealousy, and locks her in the cellar to make her talk. Luca, however, says she had nothing to do with Alex’s death. Jana’s father then offers Luca money so she will not go to the police about Jana having unlawfully imprisoned her. Anni Sulmtaler finds an important clue on the recording device Alex had left running during her private singing practice in the bathhouse on the night of the murder. It appears that Alex had a visitor that night, whom she greeted with the words, “Oh, what a surprise.” Also, when comparing photographs from the crime scene, Anni notices that the number of boxes of firewood outside the bathhouse differs. Luca Karall tells the investigators that she saw Dominik Wachter’s car by the bathhouse on the night of the murder. But it was not Dominik: his father, Lorenz, had used Dominik’s car to deliver a box of firewood to Alex that night. Lorenz says he only wanted to talk to Alex and get her to leave Jana alone. When Alex refused to listen, he reduced the stove’s draft while she briefly went into the adjoining room, then blocked the vent with a towel as he left. Lorenz Wachter is arrested for the murder of Alex Dorner.