When Dame Beatrice Jagow-Joliffe is bludgeoned to death in her suite at the Ritz, it looks like a burglary gone wrong and Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands is despatched to conduct an inquiry. Joe soon discovers this was no tweed-wearing dame - in couture gowns and a cloud of expensive perfume, her tastes included a younger lover as well as the company of an ex-chorus girl. As more murders follow, Joe begins to suspect that Beatrice was killed by someone very close to her. But suddenly he finds that the case is being closed, and his superiors demand that he surrenders the files.