An unreliable first-person narrative in the tradition of noir writer, Jim Thompson, set in the world of art, wine, and provincial retail. Spurned by his lover and mentor, art student Keir Rothwell presents a gruesome effigy of her at his art school's end of year show and is promptly excluded. A job at a local wine shop, In Vino Veritas, gives Keir a lifeline and a delicious opportunity. Resolving to regain his place and his lover's attention, he plots to reinvent the shop as a working art installation under the noses of unwitting customers and colleagues. The repurposed wine critiques make grotesques of the shop's clientele and tension soon builds on both sides of the counter. When conflict turns to murder, the would-be artist is forced to fight a rear guard action against a tenacious detective and inquisitive customers. Will a long buried past now threaten the future of a Cornish seaside town? Murder by the Bottle is a compelling study in character, criminality and truth.