A real murder occurs on the stage of the London theatre where Detective Inspector Best and his wife are enjoying a night out. Victorian theatre is only just emerging into respectability, which is threatened when another death follows - a murder which could be a reaction against one of the Victorian theatres' most traditional practices. The evocative array of suspects includes an all powerful actor-manager; the resentful Super and Property Masters; a crusading journalist turned playwright, a disgruntled dresser, the family of a ballerina who died in a theatre fire and, not least, members of the audience, who indulge in a curious form of blackmail.