Murder, Anonymous by Lois Gordon

It’s the 10th Annual Mystery Writers’ Conference at Crooked Bay Lodge. A group of writers has gathered for the weekend to take workshops, pitch their novels to agents and – with any luck – land a publishing deal. This time, though, it isn’t just creative juices that are flowing – it’s blood. The organizer has planned a mystery game she calls Murder, Anonymous – designed to help the newbies with character development and dialogue. Just for fun, one of the agents is going to be the “victim” and players on the three teams (Whodunits, Lawyers and Dicks) work against the clock to solve the “murder”. But it all goes horribly wrong when Margaret Rush is found stabbed in the dining room, her face buried in a bowl of trifle, of all things. With the police waylaid by a horrific accident out on the highway in pea soup fog, some of the players decide to try and solve the case themselves. After all, they know all the ins and outs of murder – including how to get away with it! Murder, Anonymous is a story of how the authors use their deductive skills and knowledge of all things murder to find the killer in their midst.