While walking through a residential neighborhood in Beika City, Conan and Kogoro come across a crowd of police and onlookers in front of a mansion. The mansion is the home of popular novelist Tawake Shintaro, who was found shot dead. Though there was a gun in the study where the murder took place, there are no witnesses. The body was discovered by his apprentices Akaike Naoya and Degawa Miyuki. He additionally had apprentices Bito Ryunosuke and Chigasaki Haruo for a total of four. While questioning the them, the police learn that Degawa's apprentices wrote his books and they resented him...