Here I've hit on a series that I am really enjoying. Out fishing for a monster pike (to win a wager) Skelgill comes across a group at a writer's retreat where one of their number has died. The plot smacks a little of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, a small group of people invited to a secluded island, with no communication with the mainland, host elusive or unknown, and the first of their number killed, and maybe another lined up.

Unable to contact the police, Skelgill decides to spend the night with them, and by the morning another is dead. Back on the mainland Skelgill and his team investigate the connections between the guests and come up with some surprising answers.

The plotting is well done, and Skelgill and his team are well drawn. ( )

A writer's retreat at Grisholm Hall on an island in Derwentwater results in a death. D.I. Skelgill, fortunately for them, is fishing on the lake and comes to their aid. But this will not be the only death before they all leave the island. Skelgill must discover the motive.
An enjoyable story ( )

As Inspector Skelgill begins to head back in after a day of fishing, a young woman on an island flags him down. She came for writing retreat held on the island's mostly abandoned country home, and now a publisher attending the retreat died. Because she and the others agreed to leave technology behind, their means of contacting the proper officials suffers. The inspector introduces himself as the authority. He views the body and expects nothing suspicious until his secured boat disappears from the island. Too late to do anything else, he spends the night on the island with them. By morning another member of the party dies, and officials find Skelgill's boat and show up at the island. This cross between a country house locked-room mystery and police procedural presents an interesting case, but its telling needs some work. It needed better editing. The use of em dashes for commas in many places drove me crazy. ( )