| Director | Woody Allen |
|---|---|
| Genre | crime film, mystery film, romantic comedy |
| Runtime | 96 min |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $4 million |
| Box office | $39 million |
Following the memorial service for investigative reporter Joe Strombel, his spirit finds himself on the barge of death with several others, including Jane Cook, a woman who believes she was poisoned by her employer, Peter Lyman. Jane thinks Lyman, a British aristocrat with political ambitions, may be the Tarot Card Killer, a notorious serial killer of prostitutes, and he killed her when she stumbled onto his secret. The Killer leaves a card on each murder victim's body.
Sondra Pransky is an American journalism student on vacation in London. Pransky attends a performance given by magician Sid Waterman, aka "The Great Splendini", and agrees to participate onstage. While in a booth known as The Dematerializer, Pransky encounters Strombel's ghost. The ghost escaped the Grim Reaper to impart his suspicions of Lyman to a journalist who can investigate the story. Sondra decides to find out if Lyman truly is the Killer, enlisting Sid in the process.
Sondra catches Lyman's attention by pretending to drown at an exclusive club's swimming pool. When he rescues her, she introduces herself as Jade Spence, daughter of a wealthy family from Palm Beach. While Sid poses as her father, "Jade" dates Lyman. Sondra is convinced Lyman is the murderer, but Sid finds it hard to believe. Sondra falls in love with Lyman and begins to trust him. Sid meanwhile becomes less sanguine about Lyman as he notices more and more inconsistencies, especially after Sondra finds a Tarot deck hidden under a horn in Peter's vault, a music room containing antique musical instruments. Sid prevails upon Sondra to write a news story implicating Lyman, which the editor rejects because of her lack of proof.
Soon the police arrest the real Tarot Card Killer. Sondra, relieved that her suspicions were for naught, reveals her real name and the deception she and Sid had practiced. Lyman is gracious and tells Sondra he wants to keep seeing her. They plan to spend the weekend at Lyman's isolated country estate. Later, Sid (at Strombel's urging) suggests that Lyman used the Tarot Card murders to cover up a killing he committed.
While Sondra and Lyman vacation in the country, Sid continues to investigate this theory. He finds that Lyman did frequent a prostitute, Betty Gibson, who was later murdered, apparently by the Killer. Gibson is described as a "baby-faced blonde" (just like Sondra) before Lyman convinced her to dye her hair, presumably to match the profile of the other Tarot victims. When Sid calls Sondra with his findings, she waves them off. Unbeknownst to her, Lyman is listening in on another extension.
Sid breaks into Lyman's vault again, this time finding a key, which turns out to be to Betty Gibson's flat. Meanwhile, in a rowboat on Lyman's lake, Lyman confesses to Sondra that he killed Gibson to stop her from blackmailing him and used the Tarot Card pattern to allay suspicion, just as Strombel said. Meanwhile, Sid drives to the Lyman estate to rescue Sondra but ultimately dies in a car crash.
After confessing, Lyman throws Sondra into the lake and watches her go under. He later calls the police to report her drowning death. When they question him, he tells them Sondra was a terrible swimmer and almost drowned that first day at the pool. Sondra then enters, soaking wet but alive. She informs Lyman and the police that the drowning had been an act to get his attention, and actually she is a good swimmer.
Back in the newspaper offices, the editor who rejected Sondra's article now congratulates her on the start of a promising career. Sondra seems flattered, and says she must also credit Joe Strombel and the late Sid Waterman, who is now a passenger on the Reaper's ship, performing for his fellow spirits the same magical gags and comedy routines he did in life.