A famous illusionist (whose twin sister died when an escape trick went slightly wrong and she was partially sliced in half) is found in her back garden, having been witnessed shooting herself by her husband. However, the post-mortem reveals that she had already been dead for several hours, and there are no other footprints around the body despite her husband seeing someone talking to her and fleeing before she pulled the trigger. Jonathan and Maddy are prompted to investigate by the dead woman's daughter — an old flame of Jonathan's — along with the debonair Detective Inspector Gideon Pryke, the police officer officially in charge of the case. Back at the theatre, Adam has fallen in love with a 29-year-old Austrian virgin, but she may have more layers than even he knows.