Black Butler: Book of Murder 2014

The Queen decides to test Ciel Phantomhive’s loyalty, convinced he left out something in his report about the killed captive children from Noah’s Ark Circus. Her butlers stage a banquet at the Phantomhive mansion for a German banker, Lord Georg von Siemens. After the banquet, Siemens is found murdered in his guest room, and everyone has an alibi except [Ciel Phantomhive], who is confined to one of his guests—Arthur Conan Doyle, a budding writer he admires. That night, someone kills Sebastian Michaelis and another guest is found dead in the morning. Doyle suspects that three different people carried out the murders since none could have done all three alone. Just as they wonder whether there may be an outside attacker, a mysterious reverend Rathborne arrives.

Sebastian had asked Rathborne to come investigate. One of the murders is revealed to have been committed by a snake trained to hunt Ciel’s scent; the creature was sent by Snake from Noah’s Ark Circus to avenge his friends. Siemens had faked his own death as a joke but was later killed by Woodley, who wanted to frame Ciel to block him from destroying his diamond business. The case seems closed, but [Arthur] Conan Doyle notices inconsistencies and learns the truth: Rathborne is actually Sebastian Michaelis in disguise, and the Queen had known the culprit all along—Earl Grey, the Queen’s butler, tasked with killing Siemens to slow Germany’s financial ascent and, in a twist, to humorously frame Ciel for the Noah’s Ark Circus incident as a test of his nerve as the Guard Dog. Ciel and Sebastian had earlier arranged Woodley’s exposure as corrupt anyway. This dramatic turn shapes Doyle’s future. In the end, Ciel invites Snake to live in the Phantomhive manor to win his trust and prevent another attempt on his life.