Fashion Model (1945)

Peggy Rooney, Yvonne Brewster, and Marie Lewis are models at Madame Celeste's fashion house, Madame Celeste who is only the front for the business' true designer and owner, her ex-husband, Jacques Duval. There is disharmony at the fashion house, as Yvonne is trying to steal Peggy's boyfriend, Jimmy O'Brien, Madame Celeste's stock clerk and driver. This behavior is typical for Yvonne as she was the cause of Duval and Celeste's marriage breaking up. Jimmy is implicated as the culprit when Yvonne is found strangled to death, as Mac, the security guard, overheard Jimmy state that he would strangle Yvonne. In reality, Jimmy said that to Peggy in jest to appease her jealousy. Beyond all the employees at the fashion house, other people who are brought in for questioning by the police are: Mr. Davis, Yvonne's older wealthy boyfriend; and snobbish and condescending customer Jessica Van Allen and her henpecked husband Harvey Van Allen, the last two customers in the store before closing when Yvonne was murdered. All the models detest Mrs. Van Allen, who they criticized to her face on that last visit. Despite their issues, Peggy is certain Jimmy did not kill Yvonne. As Jimmy and Peggy try to clear Jimmy's name by finding the real killer, they come to believe Yvonne's death has something to do with an expensive diamond brooch Davis bought for Yvonne. But as they progress in their investigation, Peggy and Jimmy come across one dead body after another, which further implicates Peggy as Jimmy's accomplice. Their only hope is that Marie can remember the name of the man Yvonne muttered shortly before her murder. But the closer they get to the truth, the more their own lives are in danger at the hands of the killer.