Delia Mañara is notorious in her quarter of Buenos Aires for the mysterious deaths of two of her fiancés. She lives in a twilight world and gains most satisfaction through the exercise of power over others.
Córdoba, Spain. Lord Killarney, representative of the British Museum, acquires an Arabic incunabulum at an auction; but he is murdered and the book disappears. All suspicions fall on El Lince, an antique dealer with a shady background, who asks his nephew to warn Curro Jiménez.