Two crime writers, Aggie Catchlove and Jakob Hök, are 'in conversation' on stage at the Crème de la Crime writing festival. Aggie loses the audience when she slams the festival's star speaker, Kit Stirling; he's a politician-cum-chat-show-host-cum-celebrity-author who plagiarised the infamous 'twist' in Aggie's bestselling novel, then got a TV deal that meant her small-screen adaptation has been cancelled. In the award ceremony that follows their event, Jakob also learns that Kit Stirling's next book will be a rip-off of his long-running Nordic noir series featuring a forensic hypnotist. Furious, and more than a little drunk, the pair retreat to the bar and combine their various plotting skills to plan the perfect murder of a celebrity who is killing their careers. But when Kit Stirling is found dead for real, murdered inside a sealed sauna in the hotel spa, fingers point at Aggie and Jakob.

They decide the only way to clear their names is to investigate, and there are plenty of others suspects in attendance. Kit Stirling was both the most and least popular person there; a man who lived many lives and inspired many grudges. As the police start a murder investigation, the hotel is locked down, with authors, publishers and delegates all under suspicion. As Aggie and Jakob split up to double their efforts, paranoia is a third wheel that destabilises their alliance. As the investigation approaches its denouement, both writers want to tell the story, not be the story. And, when push comes to shove, they'll do anything to be the voice of the final chapter.