Best-selling novelist Michael Phillips sets up a wonderful cast of characters in this witty mystery set in a fictionalized adaptation of Cullen House in northern Scotland. An eclectic group of aspiring authors--winners of a prestigious writing contest--is invited to a "writer's retreat" at the home of wealthy philanthropist Hugh Barrabault. He is a man who can make each of them famous overnight. They have everything to gain by the success of Barrabault's endeavor. When their host is found murdered by a writing quill of unusual design, late one stormy night when secluded in his mansion with none but his author-guests, it is obvious one of them possesses motives other than fame and fortune. It turns out that all eight have secrets they would prefer not be divulged. When alliances and tensions develop between the former strangers, accusations begin to fly. Someone must take charge. But what if that someone is the murderer?

As an unofficial spokesman and representative of George MacDonald in the minds of thousands who have discovered Phillips’s editions of MacDonald’s writings since the 1980s, Michael Phillips has been sought out by men and women from around the world to shed light on the complex conundrum presented by the doctrine of eternal punishment. Seeking to address these inquiries in the least controversial way possible, in 1998 Phillips prepared a private compendium of quotes from writers through history, laying out scriptural evidence on both sides of the controversy. His motive was not to argue for or against any perspective, neither to persuade to a particular point of view, but to give information that would help each individual objectively investigate the matter quietly and personally. Though not made public at the time, Phillips’s booklet proved helpful to many. It is now made more widely available in this new edition. His subtitle aptly summarizes the book’s contents: "A selection of quotations by some Christian individuals of repute who have held to the doctrine of universal reconciliation and a list of scriptures upon which their beliefs are based."