When director Nick Cheyney is found beheaded by a guillotine on the set of his latest film, a low-budget production of The Scarlett Pimpernel being filmed at Magna Manor, DCI Barnaby and DS Jones are left with no shortage of suspects. Unfortunately for our detectives, Cheyney was on poor terms with just about everybody, including the mother of his child, an actor who blamed him for ruining his career, and the tight-fisted producer determined to see the film finished at all costs.