The Flanders Panel
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3.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
"A sleek, sophisticated, madly clever chamber mystery" from the international bestselling author—the basis for the film Uncovered starring Kate Beckinsale (The New York Times Book Review).
A fifteenth-century painting by a Flemish master is about to be auctioned when Julia, a young art restorer, discovers a peculiar inscription hidden in a corner: Who killed the knight? In the painting, the Duke of Flanders and his knight are locked in a game of chess, and a dark lady lurks mysteriously in the background. Julia is determined to solve the five-hundred-year-old murder, but as she begins to look for clues, several of her friends in the art world are brutally murdered in quick succession. Messages left with the bodies suggest a crucial connection between the chess game in the painting, the knight's murder, the sordid underside of the contemporary art world, and the latest deaths. Just when all of the players in the mystery seem to be pawns themselves, events race toward a shocking conclusion. A thriller like no other, The Flanders Panel presents a tantalizing puzzle for any connoisseur of mystery, chess, art, and history.
"A beguiling puzzle—a game within a game within a game—solved in perplexing but entertaining fashion."—The Philadelphia Inquirer
"For mystery fans who yearn for literate, intelligent, sophisticated whodunits, Spanish author Pérez-Reverte's highly acclaimed story fills the bill perfectly . . . An inventive plot, gripping suspense, fascinatingly complex characters, and innovative incorporation of art, literature, and music will enthrall readers looking for something a little different."—Booklist
"This intelligent mystery . . . comes up with a satisfying twist at the end."—Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When an art restorer sets out to solve the riddle of a 15th-century masterpiece in this uneven but intriguing, multilayered thriller, she finds that one murder begets another, down through five centuries. Young, beautiful art expert Julia works in Madrid for the Prado as well as for various local galleries and auctioneers. Her painstaking cleaning of The Game of Chess , by Flemish master Pieter Van Huys, uncovers a Latin inscription--painted over by the artist--with the question ``Who killed the knight?'' Julia explores this mystery with the aid of Cesar, a middle-aged, homosexual antiques dealer who has become something of a surrogate father figure for her; Alvaro, her art professor ex-lover; and Munoz, a mildly antisocial chess master. When Alvaro dies--possibly murdered--Van Huys's riddle becomes relevant not only to the figures and chess pieces represented in his painting but also to Julia and her friends in this rather seamy art community. The author, a TV journalist in Spain, makes interesting use of the chessboard as metaphor for various human interactions, and his characters' sleuthy analysis of the painting's symbols and the details of its frozen chess game is clever and quite suspenseful. But the characters themselves are carelessly drawn cartoons--perhaps distorted in translation--and prone to rather sophomoric pronouncements on aesthetic and philosophical issues. And--highbrow pretensions aside--the whodunit aspect of the narrative is resolved unconvincingly, with disappointing conventionality. Film rights to Filmania.
Customer Reviews
The Flanders Panel
Could not finish it; the characters are not likeable and the verborrhea is hard to take. Does not flow whatsoever.
A sublime riddle wrapped in a mystery instead de an enigma
An astonishing work from an extraordinarily gifted author, renowned for the intelligence and lyricism of his writing. This is a five star read that commands the Reader’s interest and attention and feels impossible to put down (I read on through the night, too alert and excited by the puzzle to sleep).
The principal character, Julia, a talented art restorer in late 20th Century Madrid, discovers a hidden clue in a 15th Century masterpiece, ‘The Chess Game’ which alludes to the murder of one of the figures in the painting.
It’s a portrait by a Flemish painter Pieter Van Nuys, of his friends, the knight Roger Arras playing chess with Duke Ferdinand of Flanders in the presence of the latter’s wife, Beatrice of Burgundy, painted two years after Arras was assassinated by crossbow.
An X-ray of the picture, taken to confirm its authenticity, shows a phrase deliberately shrouded by a layer of paint. Intrigued by the words “Quis necavit equitem” (who killed the knight), Julia begins to investigate this 500 year-old murder mystery, calling on the help of several allies: a history of art professor who was her former lover, a fine arts and antiques expert who is her guardian, and a brilliant chess theoretician. But as they unravel the historical mystery by decoding the chess game in the painting, there are moves afoot to take Julia’s present-day friends ‘out of the picture’. As one murder follows another, will Julia be next?
This a rare gem- a written work of poetic description and intelligent plot that immerses the reader in a rarefied world of fine art, the genius of chess, the greed of auction houses and the truism that no person can fully know another.
Faultless and unforgettable, this is a novel of the highest quality that enriches the Reader with every page.