Three of America's top Mystery writers are kidnapped by a feared international criminal the murderous and elusive Roberto Mara.
Mara holds them on a Greek super-yacht and reveals his intent to retire by pulling off a $500 million heist.
"I need ideas. You will each give me one."
Over the next three days, each of the writers describes an original heist.
The seductive Barbara Blair reveals a bold plan to kidnap a Super Bowl team and after the country's chaotic, hilarious reaction find the perfect group to pay the ransom.
The macho Richard Richards lays out a muscular scheme to heist twenty armored trucks in New York's jewelry district in broad daylight without anyone seeing.
The sophisticated Simon Littlejohn details a complex computer program that will force a major investment bank to gladly let Mara take the money.
But Mara is angry.
"These are just stories! Creative, but impractical! I have a better idea!
"A heist of Intellectual Property!"
And he forces them to turn their ideas into books and films that will create a $500 million writing franchise under the name of a new writer Roberto Mara.
But then, as the money is rolling in, one of the writers secretly hires an ex-FBI assassin to help kill Mara and take over the franchise.
What happens next is a high-speed chain of murder and revelation in a climax that has*"more twists than a New York bar tender."*