Todesfrist - Nemez und Sneijder ermitteln (2019)

The characters from the children’s book Struwwelpeter are the inspiration for a series of murders, which begins with the discovery of a woman’s body in the Frauenkirche in Munich. The victim has suffocated on a large quantity of ink, echoing the story of the Black Boys. Two days before the murder, someone close to the victim received a clue in the form of a riddle, along with a 48-hour deadline; solving the riddle could have saved the victim from death. Similar cases have occurred in Dresden and Cologne. Munich detective Sabine Nemez begins investigating the case of the victim found in the Frauenkirche, until the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) gets involved. Forensic psychologist Maarten S. Sneijder, an eccentric but brilliant case analyst from the Netherlands, is assigned to take over the search for the serial killer. Solving the case is a personal matter for Nemez, so she persuades Sneijder to let her continue working with him. Their leads also take them to Vienna, where psychologist Helene Berger has received a package containing a severed thumb, echoing the story of the Thumb-Sucker. It is unclear whether the victim is still alive and can still be saved, and a race against time begins. The question also arises as to why the killer has chosen Heinrich Hoffmann’s children’s book as the template for his crimes. With the help of their Viennese colleagues, they manage to trace the case to an offender who was required to undergo psychological treatment. The only person who had argued that the young man should not have to go to prison was Helene Berger—the very person who had also received the riddle and who has since contacted the police. They manage to find two of his victims still alive, but in the meantime he abducts Helene Berger because he has not yet “worked through” all the stories in Struwwelpeter. Since the source of Carl Boni’s psychological disorder lies in his childhood, the investigators suspect that he has chosen a place from his childhood for the last two “stories.” They turn out to be right and are able to rescue Helene Berger. Boni, meanwhile, has made his way to the roof of the building and jumps into the depths with a red umbrella, echoing the story of Flying Robert. Boni had chosen the children’s book as the model for his crimes because it was the first book his father had given him.