Pulp fiction writer Mickey King (Michael Caine) gets mixed up with gangsters and murder on the island of Malta in this parody of private eye mysteries. It all begins when movie legend Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney) hires King to ghostwrite an autobiography about his colourful life, now he's dying of cancer. And Gilbert, who now lives in a secluded villa with his mistress, wife and bodyguard, will pull no punches in the book. The former actor wants to include the names of the many shady people he's known over the years. But then Gilbert ends up dead, and King turns sleuth to find out who killed him. In the process, the writer finds himself in the same dangerous position as the famous screen private eyes who have inspired him.