Merlin Does Hollywood

The Gown Engineered for Murder

A designer is murdered, wrapped in weaponized fabric. Scientist Eliza and her sharp-tongued cat, Merlin, must stop a deadly runway debut. Unravel the threads now!

The glittering world of haute couture is concealing a deadly secret, and only a pragmatic scientist and her contemptuous cat can expose the truth. Dr. Eliza Bennett, a forensic textile consultant, is summoned to Lucien Vale’s ultra-exclusive Beverly Hills atelier, Maison de Filament, to consult on a supposed "revolutionary" new material: an anisotropic reactive fiber. But before Eliza can confirm the weave is "safe and sustainable", the glamour gives way to gruesome reality.

Vale is discovered dead in a small vault room, meticulously "wrapped in a single, shimmering sheet" of his own experimental fabric.Under the watchful eye of the no-nonsense Detective Rosa Alvarez, Eliza and her highly discerning cat, Merlin, realize this is no ordinary murder. The fabric is not couture, but a sophisticated, military-grade weapon designed with micro-perforations and chemical microcapsules intended to activate under heat and moisture.

With her graduate student physically harmed by the dangerous compounds and anonymous threats demanding she "stop digging", Eliza faces a chilling countdown: the killer plans to deploy the weaponized fabric during a massive runway event, turning the spectacle into a public disaster. As the suspects try to frame Eliza and conceal the deadly plot by scrubbing evidence, she must race against the clock to expose the source of the lethal textile and neutralize the threat before the final curtain falls.

Can Eliza and Merlin’s blend of scientific rigor and "lawful curiosity" unravel the threads of a technological murder, or will the deadly future of high-fashion warfare claim its next, devastating audience?