´Our deal is over.´ This is what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward encounter. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind. His new play ´Mindgame´ is about to open at London´s Vaudeville theatre, and on opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play a savage review. The next morning she is found dead, stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger that has only one set of finger prints on it. Anthony´s. Anthony is arrested, charged with Throsby´s murder, and thrown into prison. Alone and increasingly desperate, he realises only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take his call?