In England's silent-film industry, Randolph Fflytte is king. Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate the criminal activities that surround Fflytte's movie studio but nothing seems amiss until the company starts rehearsals in Lisbon. There the thirteen blonde-haired, blue-eyed actresses who Mary is bemusedly chaperoning, meet the swarm of real buccaneers Fflytte has recruited to provide authenticity. As movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout.