Pagan Peak

A frozen body is found on the boundary stone right on the Austro-German border, as if propped up for some pagan ritual. Shortly after the disparate investigation duo, police inspector Gedeon Winter from Austria and commissioner Ellie Stocker from Germany, have joined up on the case. The killer has sent audio messages to the press. The unsettling recording from the victim taken before her death, as well as intricate elements of the crime, make the investigators suspect this murder is merely the beginning of a greater scheme.

A German entrepreneur has been killed in Austria. His secret lover was found comatose on a ski piste late at night, drenched in blood. Evidence links this case to the first murder. Ellie, the optimistic and confident investigator from Bavarian Berchtesgaden and her Austrian counterpart Gedeon, the nihilistic cynic from Salzburg, realise they are dealing with a highly intelligent and cold-blooded killer. His victims seem to be symbols for our modern, anonymous society that deserves to be punished.

Tipped off by the killer's horrific photofit, the investigators unearth the Krampus legend - a symbolic creature infamous for punishing the naughty and unworthy. This leads them to Sebastian Brunner, head of a rural sect, whose books on the end of civilisation seem to have inspired the killer. Through the cult leader, Ellie and Gedeon manage to contact the perpetrator via the internet. This achievement, however, can't stop the murder of a YouTube starlet on a lake near Salzburg.