The Shale Harbour First Annual Writers Retreat abruptly ends when a budding author is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in the Shale Harbour Community Hall and Playhouse. He was a collector of the secrets of others; an unpleasant young man disliked by most. The workshop instructors have questionable backgrounds, partake in clandestine affairs, and are cloaked in confidential circumstances. Stella Kirk and Aiden North sort through the emotional noise, come to understand the victim's motives, and finally determine what is fiction and what is truth.