Mam'zelle Guillotine follows Gabrielle Damiens, the daughter of Francois Damiens, a man arrested and executed for attacking the King of France with a pocket knife. When the French Revolution begins she is released from the Bastille after 16 years in prison. Mad for revenge, Gabrielle works her way into the favor of the men behind the republic, and soon becomes the public executioner of Artois, known as Mam'zelle Guillotine. When a new sleuth from Paris arrives to track down the English spies who want to stop her, Gabrielle doesn't realize it is actually the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Baroness Emmuska Orczy (1865-1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who transforms into a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist, establishing the "hero with a secret identity" into popular culture.