is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 2024 to June 2025, with its individual chapters collected in two volumes as of June 2025. The series follows Syd Craft, a brilliant young detective who solves mysteries with his assistant Elio Evelyn; together, they help police inspector Souffle Flamberry and thwart criminals, including the cat burglar Lulu Chatnoir. The four are entangled in an unrecognized, unrequited love triangle.
Viz Media licensed the manga in North America. Shueisha simultaneously published the series in English on the website and app Manga Plus.
Plot Syd Craft is a "great detective" who combines keen observation with deductive reasoning to solve the most difficult cases while maintaining a cool, professional demeanor. Privately, he hates blood and scary situations, but fell into the detective business due to his background and talents; rather than mysteries, he relaxes by reading romance novels written by his favorite author, Levie Oleyn. Levie's novels are popular and allow Syd an outlet to socialize with others, including Lulu Chatnoir.
Syd is assisted by Elio Evelyn, a cheerful and popular teenager; while Elio idolizes Syd's suave manner and abilities, Syd envies Elio's easy manner with women. Syd is notably unlucky in love, as the women he meets also often are responsible for the crimes he solves. Police Inspector Souffle Flamberry reluctantly relies on their help to catch criminals and considers Syd a rival; she is determined to solve a crime before he does. Lulu has a secret identity as Phantom Thief Mistcat, an altruistic cat burglar whose heists are repeatedly stopped by Syd.
Characters Syd is a great detective, born to parents who were great detectives, and thrust into his celebrated great detective career through a series of childhood traumas: his first love's parents were murdered and she was adopted by distant relatives, his best friend turned to a life of crime as part of the family business, and his tutor was a serial killer. Since then, he has continued to attract difficult cases while seeking comfort and escape in the romance novels of Levie Oleyn. Despite his keen powers of observation, he fails to recognize the true identities of the women closest to him: faithful assistant Elio is actually Levie, police inspector Souffle is his first love, and romance fan Lulu is Phantom Thief Mistcat. / Elio is Syd's young assistant, who idolizes and is learning Syd's skills. As an assistant, Elio dresses as a boy to disguise her true identity as the count's daughter of the same name, Elio Evelyn. She also writes under an anagrammatic pseudonym as novelist Levie Oleyn. After Syd cleared her of false criminal charges, she responded to his advertisement for a male assistant to learn the detective craft; unknown to her, he specifically requested a male assistant because talking to women makes him nervous. When she is overwhelmed by her feelings for Syd, she expresses them in written notes, which have been collected and published as romantic novels by Levie; she believes her confessions are safe, as she assumes Syd never reads romances. Souffle is a police inspector who relies Syd's help to solve the most difficult cases, to her eternal shame; she considers Syd her fiercest rival and dreams that one day she will surpass him. Syd is able to talk to her because he is slightly intimidated by her forward manner. She and Syd are both unaware they thought of each other as their first loves, as they were separated as children after a robber murdered her parents. Like Syd, she does not know Elio is Levie. Lulu is also a fan of the romance novels of Levie Oleyn. Her secret identity as the seventh to bear the title Phantom Thief Mistcat is closely guarded by the Chatnoir family, which regard the Craft family as their mortal enemies. Lulu is quite perceptive and immediately saw that Elio is a woman after they first met; she later learns that Elio is Levie, the author. Syd assumes Lulu has started to visit the agency more often to pursue a relationship with Elio, as he believes Elio is popular with women. After learning that Syd is vulnerable to seduction, her attempts to gain an advantage result in awkward situations with Syd, just short of making him succumb. Hakua Metalica Hakua is a brilliant inventor and the daughter of Syd's landlord. In the five years he has known her, she has proven to be intractably lazy and also has grown from a tomboy to an adult who considers Syd her big brother. Zero is a mysterious relative of Syd who is the mastermind responsible for goading Scissorleg into his crimes and the Elfy bombing incident. Zero claims to love Syd and promises to keep sending difficult cases to him.
Publication Written and illustrated by , Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from November 18, 2024, to June 16, 2025.
Publication history The chapters were originally serialized in Japanese in issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump.
See also We Never Learn, another manga series by the same author
References
External links
at Viz Media at Manga Plus