The Vermouth Salon

The cold open

Midnight hung heavy over the glass canopy of the rooftop infusion salon, where amber tinctures and botanical carafes caught the cold neon glow of the downtown skyline. Behind the brass-trimmed tasting bar, Alistair Finch slumped motionless across a copper drain tray, his lips stained a bruised violet and foam bubbling faintly at his mouth. On the counter beside his limp fingers sat a crystal snifter of wormwood aperitif, spiked with a fatal concentration of refined aconite extract.

The victim

Alistair Finch, 53, master artisanal distiller and vermouth salon proprietor

The lineup

• Dorian Ashcroft
• Cleo Vardy
• Isaac Hensley
• Tessa Corby