Mirrors of the Algorithm

In the fictional city of Ashford, a devastating police shooting case becomes the unlikely seed for a masterpiece of fraud. When a disgraced data scientist discovers that predictive algorithms know human vices better than anyone, he orchestrates a transnational antique counterfeiting scheme through an opaque online marketplace. Leveraging fabricated provenance records, AI-forged age verification, and algorithmic targeting of vulnerable collectors, his network drives three aristocratic families into bankruptcy and murderous civil war. From the rainy streets of Ashford to the fog-laced estates of Albion Isle and the sun-baked piazzas of Valduccio, this literary noir explores how technology amplifies our darkest desires—and how the ghosts we bury in data always return.