The Scribe's Vault

The cold open

Rain slicks the limestone facade of the Saint Jude Archival Library as the tower clock chimes two in the morning. Deep within the climate-controlled basement manuscript vault, blood pools across centuries-old calfskin folios. Slumped over an open catalog table, the city's most ruthless rare-folio lender lies dead, pinned to the mahogany surface by a heavy steel bookbinding awl driven straight through the heart.

The victim

Godfrey Bramwell, 57, antiquarian book dealer and private loan broker

The lineup

• Emmett Rourke
• Camilla Delacroix
• Nigel Albright
• Sabrina Boyd