The Writer

The story opens with an audio log transcript from October 18, 2018. Detective Declan Shaw recorded the log in Central Park, at the murder scene of 14-year-old Maggie Marshall. She was strangled with a single right hand and likely sexually assaulted. Near the body, police discovered a man’s watch with a broken pin and the word “Lucky” inscribed on the back. According to the head of park services, it is the nickname of a grounds crew member named Ruben Lucero.

The narrative shifts to the present day. Declan stands on a deserted subway platform, preparing for his fourth attempt to die by suicide. He is haunted by a small tattoo on his hand that reads “MM.” He is interrupted by a call from his partner, Detective Jarod Cordova, who summons him to a crime scene at the Beresford, a prestigious apartment building. A break-in went bad, leaving one person dead.

At the Beresford, Sergeant Jorge Hernandez informs Declan that the victim’s wife, the famous true crime author Denise Morrow, found her husband, David, dead from multiple stab wounds. Upon calling 911, Denise kept repeating Declan’s name, and she now refuses to speak to anyone but him. Hernandez suspects the break-in was staged, noting that Denise is covered in blood. Declan, under pressure from an ongoing Internal Affairs (IAU) investigation into his past cases, enters the apartment alone. He finds Denise seemingly catatonic, sitting on the floor near her husband’s body. A chef’s knife lies between them.

Officers search the apartment, which contains Denise’s cat but no intruder. A terrace door is open, but the terrace itself offers no viable escape route. Soon after, prominent defense attorney Geller Hoffman arrives, claims to be on the Morrows’ security call list, and declares himself Denise’s lawyer. In Denise’s office, Cordova finds a printed manuscript for her next book: The Taking of Maggie Marshall: Incompetence in the NYPD. Hoffman tries to leave with Denise, but the detectives take her to the precinct for questioning.

At the station, Assistant District Attorney Carmen Saffi joins the case. Cordova reveals that Denise canceled the life insurance payout on her husband six weeks earlier, removing a clear financial motive. He also shows a video of an old interview in which Denise discusses her ability to commit the perfect crime. During interrogation, Denise provides an alibi, stating she was at a book signing in Tribeca. She claims she found her husband dead but cannot account for an 11-minute gap between arriving home and calling 911. Security footage shows no one else entered the apartment. The discovery of condoms in David’s pocket provides a new motive: Since Denise had a hysterectomy years before, David was likely having an affair. At her arraignment, Denise pleads not guilty, but a judge denies bail.

Another transcript details Ruben “Lucky” Lucero’s arrest for Maggie Marshall’s murder. He led police on a rooftop chase, during which Declan tackled and injured him. In Lucero’s squalid apartment, police found books stolen from young girls, some containing disturbing Polaroid photos.

Back in the present, Declan examines Denise’s laptop and copies her manuscript. He finds a cryptic text message on her computer about the Maggie Marshall case, questioning why Lucero’s prints were not found on a textbook titled Understanding Anatomy and Physiology. Soon after, Cordova calls Declan to the morgue. The medical examiner, Oscar Martinez, reveals that the chef’s knife is not the murder weapon and that the blood on the knife and Denise’s clothes does not belong to David. This new evidence leads to Denise’s release on bail. Cordova reviews security footage and deduces that Hoffman left the apartment with the real murder weapon, having concealed it in a coat identical to Denise’s.

Days later, a woman named Mia Gomez is found stabbed to death in a dumpster near the Beresford. The blood on Denise’s clothes and the chef’s knife match Mia Gomez, indicating that she and David were killed with the same weapon. Because Denise was at her book signing when Gomez was killed, she has a solid alibi. Declan theorizes the evidence was deliberately mixed up.

Declan and Cordova visit the bookstore from Denise’s alibi and review security footage. They see Geller Hoffman hand Denise a shopping bag. Later, she enters a bathroom and emerges wearing her coat fully buttoned, suggesting she changed into bloody clothes provided by Hoffman. In the bookstore’s basement, Declan finds a copy of the textbook Understanding Anatomy and Physiology with a handwritten note from Denise inside.

The detectives get a warrant for Hoffman’s apartment. In the garage, they find the knife that killed David Morrow hidden in a duct above Hoffman’s car. Declan’s fingerprints are on the knife, and a matching knife is missing from his apartment. During interrogation, Declan admits he was at the subway station contemplating suicide during the murder, but his blood type matches a sample from the crime scene. Denise appears on television, claiming she was identifying Declan as the killer on the 911 call. Hoffman is then found dead in an apparent autoerotic asphyxiation incident, and the DA’s office drops all charges against Denise, blaming the deceased attorney.

The narrative reveals that Declan and Denise are lovers who orchestrated the entire plot. Denise killed her husband, and Declan helped stage the scene to frame Hoffman. Denise then killed Hoffman, staging his death and planting evidence to frame him for Maggie Marshall’s murder as well. They planned to sue the city for wrongful arrest and escape together with the settlement money. The plan goes awry when Denise kills Declan by exploiting his severe peanut allergy, tainting his cholesterol medication and confiscating his EpiPens.

Cordova finds Declan dead and realizes his partner was having an affair with Denise. He finds a USB drive with her manuscript in Declan’s shirt pocket. Soon after, Ruben Lucero is found murdered in his prison cell. Cordova confronts Denise at her apartment, revealing he knows the truth. David Morrow was gay and having an affair with a male friend, not Mia Gomez. Denise was paying Mia for confidential police transcripts to use in her books. He explains that she killed David early in the evening, using a heated blanket to manipulate the time of death and create a false timeline. Cordova then confesses that he, not Declan, planted the textbook in Lucero’s apartment to secure a conviction. Denise, in turn, shows Cordova a transcript of Lucero confessing to Maggie’s murder, which she used as leverage to control Declan.

Cordova pretends to offer Denise a deal to supply her with police intelligence. He lures her onto her terrace, toasts to her “perfect crime,” and throws her over the railing to her death. After staging the scene as a suicide, he discovers “QuimbyCam,” a live video feed from a camera on her cat’s collar. The camera has broadcast the entire murder to a live internet audience, exposing Cordova.