Newly arrived from New Zealand and in need of funds, Martyn Tarne takes a job as a dresser to the Vulcan theater’s leading lady. This provides her with a ringside seat to the backstage circus and the eventual murder that occurs on opening night. Inspector Alleyn is soon called to solve the murder and inject a needed dose of pragmatism, but the novel’s greatest pleasure lies in the characterizations of the theatrical “types” Ngaio Marsh knew so well.