Behind the "silver curtain" spray from a fountain, a man is found dead with a knife in his back. Colonel March is called in to investigate.

A skull, known as the Damascus man, is stolen from a museum and Colonel March's life is imperiled trying to solve the case.

When a wife reports her reclusive mystery writer husband has accidentally fallen from a cliff, suspicion points to her as the killer. Colonel March is called in to investigate at the isolated seaside manor.