Death and the Lit Chick

Summary

Lord Easterbrook, owner of Deadly Dagger publishinghouse, has convened his stable of mystery writers at Dalmorton Castle and Spa,near Edinburgh. They’ll be staying at the castle for the weekend of the annualDead on Arrival writers’ conference. His most honored guestis Kimberlee Kalder,wildly successful young author of the chick lit mystery Dying for a Latte.

Among Kimberlee’s rivals for the bestseller rankings areMagretta Sincock, whose damsel-in-distress novels are fading in popularity withthe reading public, and Tom Brackett, whose spy thrillers toppled along withthe Berlin wall. Then there’s Winston Chatley, whose dark and edgy novels havelost their edge, and Donna Doone, who is hopelessly enmeshed in writing adetective story set in prehistoric times. In fact, there is no shortage ofwriters who feel shoved aside by Kimberlee, who goes out of her way to let herfellow writers know she thinks all of them are past their sell-by date.

Despite the tense atmosphere, St. Just is as surprised asthe rest when Kimberlee turns up dead, thrown to the bottom of the castle’sbottle dungeon. With his Scottish colleagues, St. Just begins a race againsttime to find the writer with the “poison pen.”