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The Mysterious Substituted PaintingAuthor: Unno Juza
| Original Title | すり替え怪画 |
|---|---|
| Author | 海野 十三 |
| Genre | Fantasy & Sci-Fi |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | Count Shishido’s prized Cézanne masterpiece, *The Card Players*—a lifeline in his fading aristocratic world—vanishes overnight, replaced by a crude forgery. The substitution is brazen: altered details mock his devotion, leaving him desolate. Desperate, he enlists eccentric detective Fukuro Nekoneko, who traces the theft to Uttei Tenku, a phantom thief notorious for swapping treasures with bizarre "compensation." Clues hint at a female accomplice and a network of art dealers, like the slippery Iwata Tenmondō, who eagerly buys forged works. As Fukuro unravels Uttei’s scheme—using chemical tricks to alter and resell stolen masterpieces—the stakes escalate. A Rubens painting, tampered with mid-heist, reveals the thieves’ audacious methods: layers of paint conceal stolen genius, erased only by secret solvents. Yet Fukuro’s countermoves expose deeper deceptions, blurring lines between hunter and hunted. With masterpieces at risk and pride on the line, the chase becomes a duel of wits—where art’s value lies not in canvas, but in the cunning of those who covet it. |
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