The main character in the new series “The Family Detective” is a single mother who decides to start a new life in Augsburg with her two teenage children. More by chance than by design she ends up becoming a private detective who provides help for missing people, those looking for their roots or their true identity.
After inheriting her deceased Uncle Theo’s house and detective agency, single mother of two Julie Berg ups sticks and moves from Berlin to Augsburg with her children Frizzi and Oskar. While Julie still has her hands full settling into her new home and dealing with Frizzi’s frustration at being “forced” to move to the back of beyond, an anxious single father turns to her for help. His eleven-year-old daughter Laura has disappeared without trace after he failed to show for her stage debut in the school play. Julie stands by him, although taking over the agency hadn’t originally formed part of her plans. But when clues point to a possible kidnapping, Julie calls in the police.
The case is taken on by Chief Inspector Conrad Haas, who makes no secret of the fact that he is not interested in collaborating with Julie. But Julie can’t get the case out of her mind. When she learns that Laura’s allegedly deceased mother is still alive, Julie decides to contact her and discovers that Laura has a twin sister whom she had no idea existed.
In the course of her inquiries, Julie repeatedly crosses paths with Conrad Haas, who finds her inquisitive urge to get to the bottom of things increasingly irritating. It doesn’t help matters that Karla, the proprietor of the café where Frizzi has a part-time job and with whom Julie is gradually becoming friends, is Conrad’s sister.
Julie’s new life is further complicated by the unexpected reappearance of Maria, Uncle Theo’s former life partner. She is accompanied by her considerably younger boyfriend Robert, a railwayman. Theo has granted Maria life-long right of residence, so like it or not Julie has little choice but to come to terms with this slightly eccentric and highly vivacious addition to the family.
