When best-selling author Jonathon Dodge was found dead in an abandoned boathouse in upstate New York, there was no lack of suspects for his murder. A prominent author of espionage and true crime books, Dodge was roundly disliked by nearly everyone with whom he came in contact. On the night of his murder, however, Dodge had attended the Mystery Writers of America's annual Edgar Allan Poe Award banquet - at which he was honored with their Grandmaster Award - and spent the evening surrounded by the luminaries of the mystery-writing field. Harvey Goldstein, the mystery-loving New York City Chief of Detectives, and his aide-de-camp Sergeant John Bogdanovic must sort through a slew of suspects, who are all well practiced in the art of murder, to find out who finally killed the unlikable writer.

How are fictional detective Nero Wolfe and two mob-related murders connected?Theodore R. Janus, a famed lawyer for the underworld, comes to New York to attend the Black Orchid dinner—the annual affair of the Wolfe Pack, a group of afficiandos of Rex Stout's famous fictional detective. While he is in New York, a Mafia turncoat is murdered and Janus is implicated. Then, Janus himself is murdered. Now, Sgt. John Bogdanovic, with his boss, Chief of Detectives Harvey Jacobs, must figure out if the murders are connected and what, if anything, they have to do with Nero Wolfe.