At a gala performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, Phryne Fisher meets the gorgeous Lin Chung who has rescued the theatre’s leading man from some thugs in a dark alley in Chinatown. The evening continues on unexpectedly with a bizarre death onstage. What links can Phryne find between the Chinese community of Little Bourke St, the illicit opium trade and the actors treading the boards of His Majesty’s Theatre? Phryne must solve an old murder, find a new murderer, and banish the theatre's ghost who seems likely to kill again.