Douglas Markham is a retired newspaperman who has returned to his old hometown of Jackson, Wyoming. An old girlfriend from his high school days is a member of the local Mystery Writers Club and invites him to join. It is a small group. Its members are all professional mystery writers and are very selective about who joins them. The group's president, Tess Gilbert, when she meets Doug for the first time, thinks he is just so damn sexy she would let him join even if he couldn't write his own name. The group meets in the Teton County Library and librarian Regina Fuller, a wanna-be writer, joins in the group's meetings. She is also attracted to Doug and flirts with him from the very beginning, and he doesn't seem to object, in spite of the fact that he is married. When Doug's wife, Betti, is murdered, Doug is naturally the prime suspect, especially when a neighbor reports having heard them arguing loudly shortly before the murder. However, the Mystery Writers Club members believe firmly in Doug's innocence, and set about to find the real killer. After all, they are all successful mystery writers. They understand the criminal mind. It is up to them to prove to the police that they have the wrong man. During the course of their investigation, the group discovers that Doug has been having an affair with Regina. So is Doug guilty after all? Or did Regina kill Betti so she could have Doug all to herself? Who else could have wanted Betti dead? Will the Club's investigation find the real killer soon? Or will someone else have to die first? When will these mystery writers come to realize that solving a murder in fiction is much easier than solving a real life one.