Death On The Road (2/49)

Death On The Road (2/49)

Mario, a young craftsman, and the experienced Gerry , set off the traditional "walz" , walking from town to town, seeking employment. After a dispute they separate, but Mario is accepted into the craftsmen's guild. Then he is murdered. No easy task for the police to investigate in the guild with its age-old customs and secret rites. And then there is Franzi, a pretty craftswoman, burdened by an ancient curse...

It's a long farewell. Mario Leitgelb, a young craftsman, says goodbye to his mother and sets off with the experienced Gerry Neuner on the "walz", a German tradition, once mandatory, now optional, dating from  medieval times, whereby young craftsmen leave home and walk from town to town seeking temporary employment. In Munich they find work and bread with the building contractor Pirner. After a dispute with the latter, they go their separate ways. Nevertheless, Gerry pleads that Mario be accepted as a member of the guild of craftsmen on the road. After the festive ritual of Mario's initiation in a craftsmen's inn at Lake Starnberg, Franzi Brandl, a pretty craftswoman, also on the "walz", appears on the scene. She and Mario both come from the same Bavarian village. Yet Mario realises that Franzi only has eyes for Gerry. Shortly afterwards Mario is found murdered under a bridge in Munich.Detective Inspectors Ivo Batic, Franz Leitmayr and Carlo Menzinger face the task of searching for a murderer among the craftsmen's associations with their age-old traditions - among men who speak a strange language and who feel bound by time-honoured secret rites. And worse is yet to come: Franzi Brandl is encumbered by an ancient curse.