Best-selling novelist Michael Phillips sets up a wonderful cast of characters in this witty mystery set in a fictionalized adaptation of Cullen House in northern Scotland. An eclectic group of aspiring authors--winners of a prestigious writing contest--is invited to a "writer's retreat" at the home of wealthy philanthropist Hugh Barrabault. He is a man who can make each of them famous overnight. They have everything to gain by the success of Barrabault's endeavor. When their host is found murdered by a writing quill of unusual design, late one stormy night when secluded in his mansion with none but his author-guests, it is obvious one of them possesses motives other than fame and fortune. It turns out that all eight have secrets they would prefer not be divulged. When alliances and tensions develop between the former strangers, accusations begin to fly. Someone must take charge. But what if that someone is the murderer?