The Gilded Frame: An Alice Alcott Mystery: 1

Dr Alice Alcott is paid to tell wealthy people that the thing they love is not what they think it is. Nobody has ever been pleased to see her twice.Forty minutes after defending the Beaumont's new Caravaggio in front of two hundred people, she leans in close. The joints are too tight. The gilding hasn't worn through at the corners. The canvas isn't canvas.The alarm brings thirty-five guests in evening dress round to find her standing beside a masterpiece with her fingers on the frame - and it takes Alice four seconds to work out the worst part. The painting didn't vanish tonight. It has been gone for nine days, and not one person in a national collection noticed.Somebody wanted it that way. Somebody who is still in the building.Nobody stole a painting. Somebody has been keeping one.