Who in the world wants that gorgeous red dress with the bad reputation?

Everybody! Fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian has never seen such a gown: crimson, flowing, fabulous. And infamous. The actress who first wore it on stage died in it on the closing night of The Masque of the Red Death — and she was playing Death. Burglary, assault and murder now seem to haunt this legendary gown like a ghost.

Who would want it enough to kill for it? Crazy theatre people? Costume collectors? Russian spies?

The theatre is a world of illusion, and spycraft and stagecraft have much in common. Shadows and deceptions lead Lacey and the red dress into a macabre dance with an assassin—and a masquerade with death