Death is just a close shave away.’

There’s a killer on the loose whose modus operandi involves shaving the heads of young women, strangling them and creating a gruesome memento of each in the form of a death mask.

It is February 1918. A wild storm lashes the Melbourne bayside suburb of Brighton. Emma Hart, an aspiring artist, and Max Rushforth, an ex-soldier suffering from shell shock, seek shelter in a cellar, where they discover the killer’s sinister collection of death masks, made from murdered women. When Max is arrested as a suspect in the Death Mask Murders, Emma enlists the help of crime reporter, Reggie da Costa, to prove Max’s innocence.