The director of a theatre troupe, Alfred Meijer, first miraculously escapes death—he is almost pushed under a speeding train. But soon the worst happens: at the celebration of his wife’s birthday, actress Carolin Daycres, Meijer is killed by a blow… from a champagne bottle.
The investigation is taken over by Inspector Alleyn. As he plunges into the backstage world of the theatre, he encounters bright, talented, and extremely contradictory people—actors who are used to living in their roles and, it seems, never take off their masks even in real life.