Verlorene Seelen. Ein Krimi aus Passau (2026)

On the Queen Danubia, an excursion boat owned by a Passau shipping company and moored in the industrial harbor, there are repeated nighttime break-ins and acts of vandalism, and the ship’s bell goes missing. Private detective Ferdinand Zankl takes on surveillance of the boat. After falling and hitting his head on the ground, he thinks he sees a body in the Danube wearing a blue-and-yellow number 12 sports jersey, but it appears only briefly. Chief Inspector Hermine Grill does not believe what he saw and attributes it to his fall and the loss of consciousness that followed. Because of his injury, Frederike Bader steps in for him on the case and finds blood in the ship’s galley. Moored opposite the Queen Danubia is the cargo vessel Wiener Schnitte, whose captain, Hans Lindegger, has several prior convictions and was incarcerated at Vienna-Josefstadt Prison until a year ago for a sexual offense. His nephew Lenny was taken into police custody the night before last for drunk driving. Zankl has installed surveillance cameras on the Queen Danubia and has seen Lenny aboard the ship on the footage. According to Anke Broitzmann from the harbor master's office, who has known Hans for several years, he had been transporting soybeans from Constanța. She has not seen him for two days and wonders why he is still in the harbor, since he normally sets off again as soon as his cargo has been unloaded. From the jersey’s colors, Zankl determines that it may have belonged to SV Donaustadt Wien, and that Hans Lindegger was probably a fan of the club. Zankl assumes the body in the water was Hans. Frederike spots two anglers near the boat, one of whom is Lukas Hackl, one of the youth leaders of the Petrusfischer club. The Petrusfischer’s chairman, Thade Gutsmiedel, claims he did not recognize Lukas. It is unclear whether Hackl and his friend were merely witnesses or the burglars themselves. Lukas’s fingerprints and DNA are found on the Queen Danubia, and he says they only wanted to steal the bell. Gutsmiedel had watched the two young men and followed them. When they noticed him, they were so startled that they dropped the bell into the water. Gutsmiedel stayed on the Queen Danubia afterward, where his wife and daughter had worked until they were both killed in a car accident. Zankl’s investigation reveals that Hans Lindegger was player number 12 and that there were two women aboard the Wiener Schnitte, probably from Constanța. Zankl finds traces of blood and signs of a struggle on the ship. When Zankl and Bader go to Gutsmiedel’s cabin to speak with him, Anca Roth, one of the two women from the Wiener Schnitte, runs away. Lenny holds Anca back, wanting her to start a new life with him. Dana Dumitrescu, the second woman from the ship, had been taken by him to a brothel in town. His uncle had made a deal with the owner. When Anca refuses to go with him and Lenny then tries to strangle her, Bader manages to drive him off in time. Zankl finds the brothel’s address in a calendar entry on the ship. He alerts Chief Inspector Grill, and the police raid the brothel and rescue Dana. Gutsmiedel confesses to Zankl and Bader that, on the night in question, he had beaten Hans Lindegger to death with a fire extinguisher aboard the Queen Danubia and thrown him into the Danube, after Hans had become violent toward Anca. Zankl suggests that he tell the police Lindegger fell into the water by himself after the blow. Lenny is shot dead in the woods by Viktor Popescu, the brothel owner. Hackl and his friend apologize to the shipping company and pay for the damage, while police divers recover the bell.