As of: January 22, 2024, 1:50 p.m
By: Marco Blanco Ucles
Udo Wachtveitl and Mirsolav Nemec have become TV icons in the Munich crime scene.
But the two were also already active as book authors.
Note to our readers:
If you purchase via the links included, we receive a commission from partners.
This doesn't change anything for you.
In 1991, the investigator duo Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr went on a criminal hunt for the first time as Munich detectives on the ARD crime scene.
93 episodes (as of January 18, 2024) have been shown on television so far, and it will end after the 100th episode, as was recently announced.
But the two actors Udo Wachtveitl (Leitmayr) and Mirsolav Nemec (Batic) were not only convincing as TV investigators, but also as book authors.
The 69-year-old Nemec has published three books so far - a biography and two crime novels.
His Tatort colleague Wachtveitl, who is four years younger, specializes in non-fiction books.
In this article you will get to know the works of the popular crime duo in more detail.
Miroslav Nemec “Miroslav Yugoslav”
Most people know Miroslav Nemec as the Munich crime scene detective - but he has also made a name for himself as a book author.
© Future Image/IMAGO
Mirsolav Nemec is more than just the well-known Tatort actor.
In addition to his work as an author, Nemec, who was born in Zagreb, is also a musician and lecturer.
In his work “Miroslav Jugoslav,” published in 2011, he takes readers on the impressive journey of little Miroslav, who moved to Germany, integrated wonderfully and celebrated great success.
Millions can't get enough of crime scene detective Ivo Batic.
Finally, Miro Nemec himself tells the multifaceted story of an actor, musician and performer who has reached the top.
The Croatian rascal and his wonderfully strange family, his exemplary successful integration story in Germany, his long, winding path to becoming one of the favorites of the German television nation: great material and many wonderful anecdotes!
Blurb/Gerhard Hess Verlag
Miroslav Nemec “Miroslav Yugoslav”
Gerhard Hess Verlag, ISBN 978-3-87336-405-9
Price: bound 7.96 euros, 280 pages
Order from Amazon
Stay up to date on new releases and book tips with the free newsletter from our partner 24books.de.
Mirsolav Nemec “The Dead from the Falkneralm: My first case”
In his first crime novel, which was published in 2016 and became a Spiegel bestseller, Nemec himself takes on the lead role and, as a well-known crime scene actor, is suddenly supposed to solve a real murder.
It's not just the police's doubts as to whether it's even a murder that's giving him a headache.
Miroslav Nemec, who many know as Ivo Batic from Munich's "Tatort", is supposed to read from a crime novel and discuss "Murder in Fiction and Reality" during a "Murderous Weekend".
And so on a Friday in August he goes to the mountain hotel “Falkneralm”, which is only reached by a lonely steep railway.
But the weekend is anything but pleasant: Not only does a huge thunderstorm arise, but suddenly three guests die one after the other.
Accident or murder?
Blurb/Knaus
Mirsolav Nemec “The Dead from the Falkneralm: My first case”
Albrecht Knaus Verlag, ISBN 978-3-81350-702-7
Price: bound 6.50 euros, paperback 10 euros, e-book 8.99 euros, 256 pages (different format)
Order on eBay
Miroslav Nemec “Croatian Roulette: My Second Case”
Two years after his first successful crime novel, Nemec followed up with “Croatian Roulette: My Second Case” in 2018.
This time the trail leads him to his old home of Rijeka, where he even has to defend himself against suspicion of murder.
Who wants to bring Crime Scene Inspector Miroslav Nemec to ruin?
And why?
Miroslav Nemec leads a happy life until a supposed maid puts him in an unpleasant situation.
Are compromising photos now becoming public?
A stupid joke?
A mix-up?
Blackmail?
Nemec has to figure it out all on his own.
The trail leads to his old home.
In Rijeka he finds the chambermaid, who is actually a stunt woman, murdered.
Unfortunately, all evidence suggests that he of all people must be the murderer.
But this is just the beginning of a downward spiral that threatens to plunge Nemec into ruin.
In his “second case,” which largely takes place in Croatia, Miroslav Nemec creates a sophisticated crime novel on his own behalf.
Blurb/Penguin
Miroslav Nemec “Croatian Roulette: My Second Case”
Penguin Publishing, ISBN 978-3-32860-007-7
Price: hardcover 20 euros, e-book 9.99 euros, 288 pages
Order on eBay
Udo Wachtveitl “Crime Scene: Architecture, Film and Death”
As one of four authors - together with Alexander Gutzmer, Guido Walter and Oliver Elser - Udo Wachtveitl looks behind the scenes of the Tatort sets in 2013 and also focuses on rarely examined aspects - such as the architecture - of the popular crime series.
The Tatort is the oldest crime series on German television and has been broadcast more than 850 times since 1970.
More than 8 million viewers watch every Sunday.
The book “Schauplatz Tatort” takes a look at the architecture in the “crime scene” for the first time and looks behind the scenes.
Through interviews with different actors such as a director, a designer and of course the commissioners, the reader receives exciting information about the locations and the stylistic device of architecture in the film.
Blurb/Callwey
Udo Wachtveitl “Crime Scene: Architecture, Film and Death”
Callwey, ISBN 978-3-76672-052-8
Price: bound 9.99 euros, 192 pages
Order from Amazon
Udo Wachtveitl “Houses of the Year 2021: The 50 best single-family houses”
Architecture fans will get their money's worth with Wachtveitl's second book, which was published in 2021.
Together with Katharina Matzig, the crime scene detective takes a closer look at the 50 best single-family houses selected by a jury.
There are always two people involved in a single-family home: architect and builder!
Only through intensive dialogue is a tailor-made dream house created that translates the users' individual ideas about life and the skills of the designers into stone, wood, concrete, steel or glass.
The HOUSES OF THE YEAR competition has been run by the German Architecture Museum and Callwey since 2011 and honors the best projects in German-speaking countries.
An expert jury selects 50 outstanding houses and numerous innovative product solutions from the exterior wall to the bathroom.
HÄUSER DES YEAR is the indispensable yearbook for all builders and architects to find inspiration for their own planning.
Blurb/Callwey
Udo Wachtveitl “Houses of the Year 2021: The 50 best single-family houses”
Callwey, ISBN 978-3-76672-563-9
Price: hardcover 59.95 euros, e-book 39.99 euros, 320 pages
Order on eBay
Also interesting: From crime novels to thrillers: These are the 20 most popular books on Amazon.