The Drama School at Bowmouth College is staging their annual Halloween masquerade. This year its Shakespeares Romeo and Julietwith a twist. English professor (and sometime amateur sleuth) Sarah Deane has been recruited to assist backstage. But there are complications: During rehearsals a couple of the student actors pass the time by taking whacks at each other with the stage props, and their horseplay leaves one student wounded. The drama doesnt end there: by the time the production is finally staged a member of the faculty has been badly injured, and one student has been killed.