Case 0022 · November 1, 2026

The Last Note in Grasse

She could name a flower from a single breath. Her last perfume was one note from finished.

In the archive — play with Casebook Pro Difficulty: ●●●●○

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No graphic violence, no jump scares: a fair whodunit puzzle, about ten minutes a night.

The briefing

For forty years Odile Castel was the nose of a small perfume house in the old town of Grasse. Every evening she went into the cold store at the back of her laboratory to fetch the jasmine for her last perfume.

The rest of the briefing is waiting in the case file.

The victim

Odile Castel, age 69PerfumerOdile trained her nose in the jasmine fields as a girl and built the House of Castel into a name every perfumer in Grasse respected. She worked at her old wooden perfume organ late into the evening and trusted the same flower growers for thirty years.

The suspects

Julien CastelChemist · Son
Mathilde ReyApprentice perfumer
Bernard GiraudJasmine grower · Supplier
Claire GiraudCafé owner · Bernard's sister

How to play this case

DifficultyHard (4/5)
The suspects4
TimeAbout ten minutes

4 suspects and 16 pieces of evidence wait in the file. Sweep your flashlight across the scene, listen to every voiced statement and pin what doesn't add up. You have three accusations to name the killer, the method and the motive; after that, the morning paper tells the whole story.

About this case

Case 0022, “The Last Note in Grasse”, opened on November 1, 2026. Difficulty: Hard (4/5). It puts 4 suspects and 16 pieces of evidence in front of you, all connected to Odile Castel. Like every Midnight Casebook file, it is a fair puzzle: there is no trick ending and no outside knowledge needed — everything that points to the answer is somewhere in the scene, the evidence or the statements.

Case notes

The Last Note in Grasse is set in the old town of Grasse, where Odile Castel spent forty years as the nose of a small perfume house. At sixty-nine she still worked late at her old wooden perfume organ, using jasmine from growers she had trusted for three decades. Her final perfume was a single note from finished when, one Sunday morning, her apprentice found her inside the cold store at the back of the laboratory, its heavy door jammed shut from outside.

The file turns on habits and access. Only four people knew her evening routine: her son Julien, a chemist; her apprentice Mathilde Rey; her jasmine grower Bernard Giraud; and his sister Claire, who runs a café. You will need to weigh where each of them was across a long night, who stood to gain, who knew what about the cold store, and which account has been shaped to protect someone else.

At difficulty four of six, with sixteen pieces of evidence, this is a case for patient players who keep careful notes and enjoy untangling quiet family and business ties.

Questions about this case

Is “The Last Note in Grasse” free to play?

This case is now in the archive, which is part of Casebook Pro; how far back you can go depends on your plan. Tonight's case and the first three cases are always free.

How hard is “The Last Note in Grasse”?

“The Last Note in Grasse” is rated Hard (4/5) on the Midnight Casebook scale. Difficulty follows the week: Monday's case is the gentlest and the weekend's files are the toughest, and most players close a daily case in about ten minutes.

What if I get stuck on “The Last Note in Grasse”?

Hints open one at a time: the first points to evidence worth a closer look, the second to a contradiction, the third explains one part of the puzzle. Free players get one hint per case, plus an extra one on hard cases during their first seven solves; Casebook Pro unlocks all three. Each hint costs 10 points and each wrong accusation 20, but time never counts against you.

Do I need to download anything to play “The Last Note in Grasse”?

No. Like every Midnight Casebook case, it plays in any modern browser at midnightcasebook.com/play, and there is also an Android app. Sign in with Apple or Google when you want to keep your streak, scores and badges on every device.

Does my score on “The Last Note in Grasse” count on the leaderboard?

Midnight Casebook leaderboards count only cases solved on their publish day, so tonight's case is the one to play for points. You can still solve this one for the story and the practice.

Can you name the killer, the method and the motive?

Play this case

No spoilers here: the statements, the evidence and the solution stay inside the case file.