Bradley Thompson, a famous crime writer, is in town to collect an award for his latest book. However he is a fraud. Bradley takes information, book plots and sometimes the entire book from other people and gets them published under his own name and enjoys the credit when they become bestsellers. However most of his victims have become famous writers in their own right but Bradley, collecting his award, succeeds in rubbing all of them up the wrong way, including Perry's secretary Della and his detective/assistant lawyer, Ken. During the party after the award, Bradley is poisoned and his ex-wife framed for the crime.