written by Yana Toboso

The queen’s guard dog is up to his collar in trouble again in this volume of Black Butler. Out of nowhere, he is chosen by the queen to host a banquet in the honor of a visitor from Germany, that is, after her private secretarial officers/butlers, Charles Grey and Charles Phipps, invaded his home and destroyed a door, attacking his servants in the process. Rather a rude way for butlers to behave, Sebastian might go so far as to say.
 
Attending the banquet are several prominent figures, including a distant relative of the queen, an opera singer, and her stage manager, board members of various companies, and as usual, Lau and Ran-Mao, as well as a wildcard visitor, a writer and eye doctor whose work Ciel took a personal interest in.
 
Despite some impudence by Lord Siemens, the party goes rather smoothly, thanks to some close saves by Sebastian, and even Ciel gets in on the action. During the festivities, Ciel makes a friendly connection with the writer Arthur Wordsmith. Wait --- that’s his name? Wow, it suits him.
 
However, once night rolls in, things start getting tense. One of Ciel’s guests is found dead in his locked room, and suspicions start erupting immediately. There are so few ways that the murder could have occurred, so finding the killer will not be easy.
 
The bodies begin to pile up as Sebastian himself is found dead the next morning. It seems there is an assassin lurking in the Phantomhive Manor. As incredibly confusing as this is, I find it incredibly hard to believe that this is actually happening. To make matters worse, another murder victim is found in Ciel’s bedroom. What could this mean?
 
Yana Toboso certainly knows how to peak her readers’ interests while keeping them on the edge of their seats. Plus, with a huge cliffhanger like this, what Black Butler fan could possibly not look forward to the next volume, so they can find out what is happening in the Phantomhive Manor?

-- David Gromer

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