The writer Viktor Borg is always in arrears with his manuscripts, much to the annoyance of his publisher, editor and friend Otto. Without further ado, Otto announces the arrival of Viktor’s new murder mystery, which is to appear in the “Illustrierten Woche” in installments. When Viktor attends a magician’s performance with Otto, in which a woman in a glass box disappears, Viktor comes up with the idea for the first chapter of his mystery: In his novel, the woman stays disappeared and is the victim of a crime. During the magician’s performance the next evening, the young woman, Dolly Marlow, really does disappear and things progress exactly as Viktor described in his installments.