Brighton, 1950. The body of a girl is found cut into three pieces. Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is convinced the killer is mimicking a famous magic trick-- the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, served in World War II with Edgar in a unit called the Magic Men, a special ops troop that used stage tricks to confound the enemy. Max is on the traveling show circuit and is reluctant to leave to help Edgar investigate, but he advises him to identify the victim quickly-- it takes a sidekick to do the Zig Zag Girl. Those words come back to haunt Max when the dead girl turns out to be Ethel, one of his best assistants to date. He's soon at Edgar's side, hunting for the killer.
