Members of London's "Egotists' Club" are telling stories of mysterious happenings, when one of the members' guests, a cinema actor named Varden, relates that he was invited to model for a wealthy sculptor, Eric Loder, and spent several months at Loder's New York mansion. After the war, Loder invited Varden back to New York, and Varden noticed that Loder's mistress, Maria Morano, had disappeared, though a life-size silver-plated sculpture of her now occupied the living room. One night, Varden was wakened and told to flee for his life by a "funny-looking" monocled man. This man then smashed the arm of the "statue" with a fireplace poker, showing Varden a bone beneath the silver plating. Varden fled the house immediately, but afterwards wondered if it was all a practical joke...
That story and eleven others are covered in "Lord Peter Views the Body", the first collection of short stories about Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers.
