The shadow of a knife on the wall. A scream. A murder. Lady Oxford is appalled to discover that her favorite Police Inspector is not available. They’re sending a couple of detectives on attachment from New York. She is even more appalled when she discovers that one of them is - a dummy. Trillo and Suede investigate the murder, they discover why the arrogant Lady Oxford hates dummies so much. She is not really the owner of the great house, Oxford Park. Her family are but renting it from the original owners, a family of dummies who fell on hard times. Does she or does she not know that her lover, the lugubrious Doctor Frederick is helping things along to ensure that - with his brains, and her money - he and Lady Oxford will be the last alive, and so possess Oxford Park once the covenant ends, and the dummy family are dispossessed? How long has young Laura known that she is half puppet? Can she put an end to this human takeover? Perhaps she’ll manage it with the help of the butler, Jive, half-puppet, too - staying on as a servant rather than leave his family’s home altogether. And what guilty secret lies - or lives - imprisoned in the attic?