Margery Louise Allingham was an English writer of the "Golden Age" of detective fiction, placed alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh—and often called the “Queen of Detective Fiction.” According to Christie herself, Allingham clearly stood out among her colleagues—“like a burning lamp.”
A retired distant relative of Campion, who decides to take up a musical show, asks the detective to find out who is causing trouble for the main actor. Campion is swept into a whirlwind of theatrical passions and behind-the-scenes intrigues, where petty sabotage—like a ruined poster or a planted pin—hides far more serious crimes.