It is October 1940 and Gervase Fen, Oxford don and part-time sleuth--is preparing for the new term. Trouble is in store when Robert Warner, up and coming playwright, chooses Oxford for the premiere of his latest play, Metromania. Together with his cast he comes to Oxford to rehearse a week before the opening, but Warner's motley troupe includes the beautiful but dangerous Yseut Haskell. When she is found shot dead in the college room of a young man who is infatuated with her, everyone is worried--most of the actors have had a reason to get rid of the femme fatale and few have alibis. The police are at loss for answers and are ready to proclaim the incident as suicide, until Gervase Fen, who thrives off solving mysteries, volunteers to help.