Deadlier Than the Male

Irma Eckman, disguised as an air stewardess, delivers a cigar rigged to explode, killing Henry Keller mid-flight. She parachutes away before the plane detonates and is picked up by a speedboat driven by Penelope. The escape leaves the scene scorched and the murder seemingly an accidental disaster.

David Wyngarde is killed by Irma and Penelope and the death is staged as a spear fishing accident. A fragment of Wyngarde's taped message survives, hinting at a matter of life and death behind the killings. Carloggio, Wyngarde's servant, later delivers a partial transmission, but the rest has been stolen by the assassins.

Sir John Bledlow recruits Bulldog Drummond to investigate Wyngarde's death and the broader series of murders. Drummond agrees to take on the case and begins tracing the connections between the oil company, the merger, and the killings. The inquiry pulls in powerful players and dangerous secrets.

A representative of an unknown party offers Phoenecian a million-pound bribe to secure Keller's oil concession within six months. Irma Eckman attends the Phoenecian board meeting to collect, but the directors vote five to four against paying. The opposition reveals the fragility of the merger strategy.

That night, Irma and Penelope visit board member Henry Bridgenorth at his apartment and murder him. The shocking hit consolidates the anti-merger faction and raises the stakes for those involved. The board remains unsettled as new threats loom.

When the board reconvenes, the directors vote unanimously to pay the million pounds, altering the leverage of the deal. Drummond senses a deeper conspiracy behind the killings and the corporate maneuvering escalates. The conspiracy tightens its grip on Phoenecian Oil.

Carloggio delivers the remaining fragment of Wyngarde's taped message, but Irma and Penelope silence him to prevent exposure. The fragment hints at a larger mystery behind Wyngarde's fatal warning. The mystery threads into the merger plot and the upcoming confrontations.

Penelope delivers a box of deadly cigars to Drummond's flat while he is away, in an attempt to finish the initial killings. Brenda, a girl Drummond's nephew Robert has brought home, narrowly escapes the same fate. The night air fills with danger as another threat closes in on Drummond.

The next day, Irma proposes another million-pound proposition to secure the Akmatan oil concession. Drummond realizes the garbled tape is connected to the Akmatan King Fedra's assassination, pulling him deeper into Petersen's web. The case widens beyond Phoenecian and Keller.

Irma abducts and tortures Robert, but Drummond follows Irma back to their flat and rescues Robert just before a bomb detonates. He is stunned to learn that Robert is an old college friend of King Fedra, linking the assassination plot to the Akmatan royal circle. The danger to King Fedra intensifies.

Irma does away with Weston, and Drummond travels to the Mediterranean coast to warn King Fedra. He is invited to a castle owned by Carl Petersen, the genius behind the assassinations, only to discover Petersen is Weston. Drummond finds himself trapped inside the fortress.

Inside Petersen's castle, Drummond uncovers that Grace is secretly carrying the bomb meant for the King. He defeats Petersen's guard Chang and hurls Petersen into a chess-hole as the player-less game unfolds. Grace boards the King's yacht, and Irma and Penelope reveal the bomb is in Grace's hairclip; the two assassins are killed when it explodes, while Drummond and Robert dive into the sea to rescue Grace.