Ironically, while clearing out an old villa, Commissioner Thiel's father accidentally discovered a mummy that was obviously thousands of years old. Herbert Thiel was commissioned to clean up by Judith Schorlemer, the granddaughter of a famous archaeologist. Does the mummy come from one of her grandfather's research trips to the Middle East? Prof. Dr. Wilfried Kastner, Head of the Archaeological Institute at the University of Münster, is enthusiastic. Based on the inscription on the shrine, he suspects that the mummy originally came from ancient Persia, which amounts to an archaeological sensation. But Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne, as a forensic pathologist not only interested in the time of death but also in investigating the cause of death, doubts that Prof. Kastner is right.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Frank Thiel has to deal with a "fresh" corpse. Correctional officer Mathias Reinhard was found dead in the basement of his apartment. Among the prisoners he was known as a particularly "tough dog". Did a former inmate of the JVA take revenge here? One of the suspects is Andreas Lechner, who has just been released from prison.