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The Flanders Panel

by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 7,020 ratings · 403 reviews

While restoring a 15th-century painting which depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight, Julia, a young art expert, discovers a hidden inscription in the corner: Quis Necavit Equitem. Translation: Who killed the knight? Breaking the silence of five centuries, Julia's hunt for a Renaissance murderer leads her into a modern-day game of sin, betrayal, a...more

Paperback, 295 pages

Published June 7th 2004 by Mariner Books (first published 1990)

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Apr 11, 2013 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: games, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, the-tragedy-of-chess, pooh-dante

My friend Cathy (also a chessplayer) told me I had to read this, and she was indeed right. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in about a day. It's... well, what is it? I read it as a kind of postmodernist reimagining of Alice Through The Looking-Glass. Other books I immediately thought of were The Name of the Rose, Gödel, Escher, Bach and Luzhin's Defense.

Formally, it's a very stylized murder mystery. Julia, the sexy but childlike Alice figure, is a Madrid art restorer. She receives an unu...more

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Feb 18, 2010 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: intellectual mystery lovers, art history scholars, fatalists

Shelves: favorites, fiction, goth-goth-baby, 20th-century-postwar-to-late

Well that was just as good as I remembered. Everything I said below still holds true. The tale may have felt a bit more heavy handed this time, but I think that's only because I knew who the murderer was and as Sherlock Holmes says, "I only saw it because I knew what I was looking for." It didn't diminish the pleasure of the experience.

This re-read had me focusing a lot more on characterization since I didn't have to be obsessively caught up in the mystery. What is beautifully done here is showi...more Well that was just as good as I remembered. Everything I said below still holds true. The tale may have felt a bit more heavy handed this time, but I think that's only because I knew who the murderer was and as Sherlock Holmes says, "I only saw it because I knew what I was looking for." It didn't diminish the pleasure of the experience.

This re-read had me focusing a lot more on characterization since I didn't have to be obsessively caught up in the mystery. What is beautifully done here is showing the importance of story- the stories that we create for ourselves each day and our reluctance to deviate from the character that we've created for ourselves. It's the dark side of far too much education- if there's nothing new under the sun, then all that remains is to Choose Your Own Adventure to suit yourself.

But yes, everyone I've recommended this to lately, I've checked on this, and I did not lead you astray! Feel free to proceed and enjoy!

* * * * *
Original Review: I discovered Arturo Perez-Reverte while in Paris on study abroad. This was incredibly unfortunate for me, as english language bookstores were limited, and my yen to read everything he's ever written became quite overwhelming. I still think fondly of that poor bookseller and his terrifed expression when I would walk in every week and demand: "Reverte, s'il vous plait!"

But to the book itself. This book is quite well constructed. From beginning to climax to the hushed end, everything felt as if it was exactly as it should be, without being dull or predictable. Reverte specializes in the "chamber mystery," genre. Which I discovered is the kind of mystery that is right up my alley. He's very good at playing mind games with his readers and challenging them to solve the mystery along with the characters. I was personally too distracted with the beauty of what was being constructed to really devote all my mental energy to solving the puzzle, though. I finished this book in a feverish 48 hours of non-stop reading. I could not put it down.

Perez-Reverte is capable of a feeling of quiet poetry in the events of his novel, his choices in terms of where to take them next. His style is certainly an homage to certain other genres, but he does it so gracefully and so well that not only does it translate into his own peculiar mixing of genre.. it translates beautifully from the Spanish original. (With only minor mistakes that I think are the fault of the translator and not the universal relatability of the writer's prose.)

This is what a well told tale looks like.

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May 01, 2011 Emir Never rated it 5 of 5 stars

Restoring a 15th century painting “The Game of Chess” by Pieter Van Huys, Julia, an art specialist, discovers a hidden Latin inscription: Quis Necavit Equitem. Translated as Who killed the Knight?, the text gives a different hue to the work featuring the Duke of Flanders and his Knight playing a game of chess with a mysterious lady in black hovering in the background. As Julia tries to investigate deeper, the painting sheds layers of meanings and references that seem to point to a 15th century m...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Snoozie Suzie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: around-the-world-challenge, reviewed

I really enjoyed this to start, but by the end I was disappointed. What didn't bother me at the beginning did in the end as it was kind of unfinished due to lack of character involvement/development which left it all hanging a bit and so unsatisfactory.

The chess side of things was very clever, but got a bit overwhelming toward the end I felt. But a clever alternative view of a murder mystery. In a way it reminds me of a Nancy Drew mystery as they often revolved around objects.

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Sep 02, 2008 Haywardpoolpj rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. The plot is connected to both art history and chess. Well, in a former life (or my youth if you prefer), I was an art historian. In fact I was prepared to do a doctoral thesis on a series of paintings by Rembrandt. I bring that up because it was exciting for me to read a fictional story, a mystery no less, using art as the basis but it was like going back in time. I had to get back to a different way of thinking. Even more so with the chess angle.

The probl...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Kirsty Darbyshire added it

I read this for a mailing list discussion so I'll probably wait until the discussionbegins in mid-April to comment on it other than to say that it's pretty much assured a place on mytop ten mysteries of the year list.

[The rest of my comments are taken from a mailing list discussion and as such contain spoilers!]

[on the setting]

OK, from a quick glance through all the answers over the weekend itlooks like I'm going to be one of the few people here who reallyenjoyed this book so I'd better get on

...more I read this for a mailing list discussion so I'll probably wait until the discussionbegins in mid-April to comment on it other than to say that it's pretty much assured a place on mytop ten mysteries of the year list.

[The rest of my comments are taken from a mailing list discussion and as such contain spoilers!]

[on the setting]

OK, from a quick glance through all the answers over the weekend itlooks like I'm going to be one of the few people here who reallyenjoyed this book so I'd better get on and even the balance out a little!

The translation was one thing that I really want to comment on. Oftenwhen reading translations I'm very aware of the middle man between meand the author and whenever a phrase seems a bit out of kilter to me Iwonder if that's what the author really meant to say or if thetranslator has added or subtracted something. This wasn't the casewith The Flanders Panel, I found the book very readable and didn'tfind myself stopping to think about the turns of phrases.

As others have said the smoking in the presence of artworks that weresupposed to be being cleaned got to me a bit. But it was mainly thesmoking as much as any other of the little details that put this bookin Southern Europe to me. I didn't get a great feel for the locationit could have been any major city in that region really, but the lackof specific Madridness didn't casue me any problems.

[on this being a "beachbook for intellectuals"]

My problem with both "literary" and "intellectual" is that they aregenerally used as insults to other things rather than compliments tothe things they are applied to, or even just as plain labels todistinguish one type of content from another. If it is claimed thatthis is a literary book it seems to imply that all other mysteriesaren't worth the paper they are written on.

I've been tying my brain in knots on the intellectual angle thismorning. The dictionary definition of intellectual seems to come downto "appealing to logic rather than to emotions". On the one hand Idon't see anything intrinsically wrong with that. On the other I'vegot this down to a reductio ad absurdum proof that shows that goodbooks have to appeal on an emotional level as well as having a goodreasoned plot and therefore no intellectual book could be any good andhopefully no one intellectual would like a bad book, therefore thereare no intellectual books. But I rather started losing the plotmyself at this point ;-)

Also the "beachbook" label always seems backwards to me, there's oftenmore time on holiday to get deeper into something involving morethinking than there is in general everyday life so the idea thatbeachbooks should be lighter than usual seems upside down.

Anyways, back to the book itself. I didn't feel the book was snobby,I got caught up in the chess and the art despite knowing little abouteither so I didn't feel the book was pitched at a level to excludethose without prior knowledge. Using the above definition I could seethe book as a little intellectual in that I didn't get as emotionallyinvolved with the characters as I would like to have done. I reallyenjoyed the puzzle but at the end of the day there were so many levelsto the plot that the modern day murder level was the level that workedleast well for me.

On the whole though I liked the fact that this wasn't a traditionalmystery and I really enjoyed the different parts of the story. ThatJulia's story was the thinnest part of the plot was disappointing butnot an all encompassing type of disappointment.

[did you guess whodunnit?]

No, the "queen" references rather made me believe that Cesar was theintended victim of the plot rather than the perpetrator. I washappily led up the garden path but I'm not sure that I found my wayout of the garden gate properly even when it was all explained to me.

I loved the chess game, that was the really good part of this book forme. I can play chess but very badly, I seem to think in the wrong wayfor it I loved having all the options explained so that I began tounderstand what was going on. Everytime I turned the page I washoping to find another chess board waiting for me to learn more. Ihad no chance of sussing out the whodunnit in the chess game any morethan in the "real" scenario but I enjoyed the chess game far more.

[on characters and motivation]

The motivation was thoroughly lousy and I don't think I got the hangof who did what and why even after it was all laid out to me. Howeverby that point I'd enjoyed the chess game so much that I didn't reallycare that the rooks and knights were more realistic than the peoplethey were representing.

I liked the guy they brought in to analyse the chess game the bestthough I've forgotten his name already. Julia I liked the least,probably just because she was the most prominent character with themost opportunity to get on my nerves, and I never understood therelationship between her and Cesar properly as it didn't seem to beconsistently portrayed.

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Feb 17, 2009 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

The intrigue commences when art restorer Julia discovers a hidden inscription on a painting she is preparing for auction. The painting depicts a nobleman and knight, embroiled in a game of chess, while a mysterious woman looks on from the background. The inscription, written in Latin and hidden under a layer of paint, reads: “Who killed the knight?”. Julia’s curiosity is piqued, and she enlists the aid of her friends to help figure out what the inscription means. However, when one of her colleag...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Joe White rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, on-shelf

The last 40-50 pages really dragged this book down. I was almost ready to drop the rating to 2 stars in that last 10% of material. A central character, the chess master, never gets any character development or revelations regarding his lifestyle and past. He seems to have the potential to excel in several areas, but the author departs with no further character development. Part of the Sherlock Holmes character definition, involved the building of characteristics unique to his skills and personal...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Matthew Roche rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted so badly to love this book.

The simplest way to describe it is the novelisation of Douglas Hofstadter's opus, "Godel, Escher, Bach." In fact, it is impossible to believe that Perez-Reverte had finished G.E.B. more than ten minutes before furiously scribing "The Flanders Panel."

I wanted to love it because I love books based on puzzles and logic, and GEB may be one of my favorite books of all time.

But the novel is just so weak. The characters (charicatures?) were flat and absurd - how many...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sur une toile exécutée par le peintre Pieter Van Huys en 1471, Julia, une jeune restauratrice, met à jour une mystérieuse inscription en latin signifiant « Qui a tué le chevalier ? ». Cette peinture représente une partie d'échecs que se disputent un seigneur et un chevalier avec en arrière-plan une femme assise lisant.

Tandis que Julia s'efforce de déchiffrer cette énigme, elle découvre que le peintre a peint ce tableau deux ans après la mort du chevalier. Piquée par la curiosité, elle décide d'...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-wotsits, x-1990s, the-butler-did-it, reviewed, chess, literachore

Like a lot of people who read this book, I'm also a chess player. The meta-chess in this book really helps you think about chess objectively. As a Psychology major, I'm also interested in how the play reflects personality as one of the main characters, Munoz, says in the book. I'm somewhat impatient and cautious and I'm told that this shows through in my gameplay, because I build strong defenses but am also too quick to make a move. This is one of the main themes of the book, and I loved how it...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although I have always been a mystery reader when I wanted to just relax, I have found that I have become a bit bored with the formulaic style of most mysteries. What a wonderful discovery to pick up "The Flanders Panel" and find an intelligent, well-written and unique mystery. My only regret is that I hadn't played enough chess in my life to follow the intricacies that the game added to the plot.

Set in Madrid a young art expert is given a well-know painting to restore for an auction. During th...more

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Mar 02, 2010 Sharakael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: proper-murder-mystery

There's something alluring about the way the author wrote... when I was reading The Dumas Club I found myself wanting to know more about Alexandre Dumas' personal life, more than what I could find at Wikipedia. While reading The Flanders Panel, I spent a lot of time Googling about the painting and the painter mentioned in the novel... was rather surprised to read that the aforementioned painter had never actually painted the painting, but the way it had been written, I had never once questioned...more

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May 18, 2012 Susana Pereira rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: translation

Dos livros que já conhecia deste autor ("A Rainha do Sul", "O Cemitério dos Barcos sem Nome" e "O Clube Dumas") o meu preferido era "O Clube Dumas" (que foi adaptado ao cinema com o título "A nona porta", com o Johnny Depp como protagonista).
Em geral gosto dos enredos que ele constrói mas a escrita nem sempre é fluida, frequentemente empanca em blocos mais descritivos que parecem estar só a reter o leitor (uma espécie de suspense à força)... Este livro também tem algumas partes assim, mas são po...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Sandy Tjan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, 2010, mystery-thriller

This book, my second from the author, contains all the ingredients that should make it an engrossing read: art, medieval history, and mystery. However, after slogging through it for several days, I find the main mystery to be too contrived to be believable (that 20-page exposition at the end by the villain scarcely helps at all), and the other ingredients merely garnish instead of an integral part of the story. Sure, there are plenty of literary allusions (we are beaten over the head with the on...more This book, my second from the author, contains all the ingredients that should make it an engrossing read: art, medieval history, and mystery. However, after slogging through it for several days, I find the main mystery to be too contrived to be believable (that 20-page exposition at the end by the villain scarcely helps at all), and the other ingredients merely garnish instead of an integral part of the story. Sure, there are plenty of literary allusions (we are beaten over the head with the ones to the Sherlock Holmes stories and they become annoying after a while) and artistic references (Breughel, Bosch, Bach) but unlike, say in The Name of the Rose Including Postscript, most of them seem to be random and merely incidental to the main story. The ‘mystery’ contained in the painting, despite all the ominous hints earlier in the story, turns out to be scarcely any mystery at all, which is doubly disappointing after the weak main whodunit practically collapses under its own weight. That said, I must confess that the other ingredient in the story --- the chess game --- is completely above my head, and that I'm largely oblivious of its role in the mystery. What eventually save this novel are the strengths that become more apparent in Perez-Reverte’s subsequent books such as The Club Dumas: the atmospheric evocation of old-world European cities and the creative use of arcana.

SPOILER WARNING. Do not read the following if you don’t want to find out about the ending.

Munoz, the Sherlock figure/chess master of the novel, stumbles upon the solution of the mystery through a pseudo-Freudian analysis of his mysterious opponent in the chess game. His theory is that men and women players betray their gender identity by favoring certain pieces, and the homosexual villain is found out because he chooses to indulge his feminine side by favoring the bishop, “ the chess piece that best embodies homosexuality”, with its “deep, diagonal movement”. Munoz also has another theory about how chess is not only oedipal, but also “anal sadistic” --- but let’s not get into that. Later, it turns out that the villain has been using a computer program to play, thus disproving Munoz’s hokey analysis. It’s a clever subversion of the omniscient detective figure, but it also means that Munoz finds the solution through sheer chance instead of deductive ability. We also never find out whether Julia and Munoz go through with Cesar’s criminal plan for the sale of the painting in the black market. I wish that Perez-Reverte had told us and explored some of its legal and moral ramifications. It would have made him a truly excellent chess player in my book.
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Apr 24, 2013 Chuck rated it 5 of 5 stars

¡Ah, qué bonito está el libro de La tabla de Flandes, de Arturo Pérez-Reverte! Tiene una historia muy sencilla, muy centrada. Comienza -como dirían en inglés- "hitting the ground running", es decir, no pierde el tiempo en entrar en materia. Es una típica novela de "quién es el culpable", y lo de "típica" lo digo con buena intención.

Los personajes son simpáticos, y se nota que Pérez-Reverte los aprecia mucho. El misterio que mezcla al ajedrez con el crimen está muy disfrutable, muy bien desarroll...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Yoanna rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Terrible! Nie zapisalam swojej oceny "nie podobalo mi sie" tylko ze wzgledu na potencjalnie cudownie rozlegly i gleboki temat jakiego podjal sie Perez-Reverte - malartwo, szachy, muzyka i gry rzeczywistosci. Niestety na tym koniec. Garsc swietnych teorii, wzietych z innych ksiazek, zbyt pewnie trudnych dla przecietnego zjadacza powiesci wspolczesnych, zmielonych w papke i podana w sposob, jaki uwlacza inteligencji czytelnika na nieco wyzszym poziomie. Moja ciekawosc na temat symboliki malartswa...more Terrible! Nie zapisalam swojej oceny "nie podobalo mi sie" tylko ze wzgledu na potencjalnie cudownie rozlegly i gleboki temat jakiego podjal sie Perez-Reverte - malartwo, szachy, muzyka i gry rzeczywistosci. Niestety na tym koniec. Garsc swietnych teorii, wzietych z innych ksiazek, zbyt pewnie trudnych dla przecietnego zjadacza powiesci wspolczesnych, zmielonych w papke i podana w sposob, jaki uwlacza inteligencji czytelnika na nieco wyzszym poziomie. Moja ciekawosc na temat symboliki malartswa flamandzkiego, muzyki Bacha czy teorii bytow zostala zamordowana calkiem banalnie- wszystko zostalo mi wyjasnione natychmiast, na wypadek, gdybym musiala zbyt daleko szukac.
Bohaterowie, sa przerazliwie plascy i nijacy. W zaden sposob nie mozna sie ani z nimi zidentyfikowac ani ich potepic. Nawet morderca, ktorego odkrycie ma zaszokowac, jest w gruncie rzeczy jednowymiarowy, zamiast stac sie postacia ciekawa i zlozona. Ostatecznie i on zostaje wyprany z jakichkolwiek szarosci i rozgrzeszony dzieki swoim motywom i nieuchronnemu koncowi. Watek wspolczesny zupelnie zbanalizowal te powiesc, czego zreszta calkiem sie spodziewalam, majac w pamieci proby innych pisarzy.
Nie sposob nie wspomniec samego jezyka, ktorym to "dzielo" zostalo napisane, jezyka, ktory chwilami probuje byc poetycki niemalze jak u Prousta ale wypada zalosnie i nieznosnie manierycznie. Podejrzewam, ze polskie tlumaczenie przyczynilo sie jeszcze do pogorszenia jego jakosci. Zamiast glebi, symbolizmu, tajemniczosci otrzymujemy etykietki ubrane w opisy (np. zamyslonej Julii chodzacej w strugach deszczu, wielokrotne powtarzanie tych samych epitetow, przypominanie o "glebi" obrazu i przemieszaniu plaszczyzn, po ktorych poruszaja sie bohaterowie w jego analizie, szachowe teorie freudowskie wyjasnione do ostatniej watpliowsci). Wszystko zostalo wiec w tej powiesci nazwane po imiemiu, znow na wypadek, gdybysmy byli niezbyt inteligentni. Nie wiem tylko, czy autor rzeczywiscie nie wierzy w inteligencje czytelnika, czy sam cierpi na jej niedostatek. To juz chyba wole Agate Christe - przynajmniej nie udaje gornolotnosci.(less)

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Apr 29, 2011 kingshearte rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fiction

I put this on The List largely because the description sounded somewhat reminiscent of The Eight. Current mystery linked to ancient mystery, all revolving around chess? Sounded good to me. Unfortunately, it was kind of disappointing. For one thing, I found the writing style quite plodding and pedantic at times. Which is kind of an unfair criticism, really, given that the pedantic nature of it definitely helped me understand some of the chess strategy that otherwise probably would have gone over...more I put this on The List largely because the description sounded somewhat reminiscent of The Eight. Current mystery linked to ancient mystery, all revolving around chess? Sounded good to me. Unfortunately, it was kind of disappointing. For one thing, I found the writing style quite plodding and pedantic at times. Which is kind of an unfair criticism, really, given that the pedantic nature of it definitely helped me understand some of the chess strategy that otherwise probably would have gone over my head. Nonetheless, his insistence on explaining everything to death grew quite tiresome. Especially the denouement, with the bad guy explaining everything ad nauseam. Tedious.

The plot itself, for me, was lacking that past-present link, although to be fair, no such thing was actually promised. I think I was just projecting what I wanted it to be. I do kind of wish that the fifteenth-century murder had a little more bearing on the actual plot though. It was there, but was solved early on, and then pretty much dropped. The fact that we revisit that story at the end suggests to me that maybe there's some kind of subtle parallelism or link, but if there was, I missed it. Something lost in translation, perhaps?

The actual resolution seemed... kind of ridiculous, actually. Far-fetched is one thing. Villains in mystery-thrillers often have very convoluted and far-fetched motives and schemes, but this one just seemed somehow absurd to me when it was all explained. I'm also not sure the clues were well planted throughout. I've mentioned before that I'm not that great at spotting them as I read, but usually I can pick up a few (even if I don't know quite what to do with them), and after all is revealed, I can look back and see them, but not here. And despite the lengthy explanation, I still don't really understand the murderer's motives. He kind of comes off as just plain unhinged, and frankly, that's not especially interesting. Also, the very final twist basically implies that the reasoning that the detective character employed to figure the whole thing out was invalid, meaning that he actually just got lucky, and that definitely feels like a let-down.

I also wanted to find the translator and smack her silly for her use of "whilst." According to my dictionary, it's mainly used in British English, and as this book is European, the translator's English is most likely mostly influenced by Britain, so maybe it's OK, but what can I say? That word bothers me. It just inevitably comes across as high-flown and out of place. But I'm sure I have my own language quirks that bother other people.

But the thing that bothered me most of all was Julia's smoking. I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about art restoration, dealing, or anything else relating to the art world. Maybe all restorers keep ashtrays in their working space. I don't know. But it just seems absolutely inconceivable to me that chain smoking all over priceless works of art is standard practice. Every time she lit up, I just imagined her re-varnishing the painting, sealing in all that nice, smoky oil, and just kept wondering what that was doing to the painting. Also, as was even pointed out in the book, with all the solvents and chemicals and whatnot in her space, it would take next to nothing to set off a pretty raging inferno, so the smoking just seems like an insane risk to be taking. Somehow I suspect that whatever insurance she has would not cover losses as a result of that. Like I said, I really don't know, and I don't know anyone involved enough with the art world that I could ask, but this whole thing just seemed so incredibly off to me that it threw off the whole book for me. I even checked the publishing date, because if it was written in the 70s or something, then maybe. But no. 1990. By then, I think we knew how damaging smoke can be, so I just don't know. Any artsy people out there want to set me straight? Tell me I'm overreacting, and that art professionals regularly light fires next to and blow smoke all over masterpieces?

At the end of the day, it wasn't painful to get through or anything; I just wish it were better.(less)

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Jan 22, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: from-translation

"The Flanders Panel" is the sort of clever, culturally-aware whodunit that has made Arturo Perez-Reverte an internationally bestselling author. Incorporating chess, art, and some tight plotting, "The Flanders Panel" is a fun ride and a competent thriller, but it never truly grabbed hold of me in the way that a true page-turner should.

The protagonist of the novel is Julia, a young and attractive art-restorer living in Madrid and her attempts to uncover the mysteries concealed by the work of a lon...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, borrowed, fiction, mystery, 4-star

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I admit that I picked this up mostly because I really liked the cover. This practice leaves me disappointed sometimes, but other times, like in this case, I find something I really like, although I waffled a bit on the rating for this. The first 60 pages felt like a 2-star rating, but then it really picked up and I thought probably 4 stars. At one point I even thought this might be a 5 star book, but there were a few issues preventing that. So 4 stars it is, because I thoroughly enjoyed this boo...more I admit that I picked this up mostly because I really liked the cover. This practice leaves me disappointed sometimes, but other times, like in this case, I find something I really like, although I waffled a bit on the rating for this. The first 60 pages felt like a 2-star rating, but then it really picked up and I thought probably 4 stars. At one point I even thought this might be a 5 star book, but there were a few issues preventing that. So 4 stars it is, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The main problem that I had with the book is that I was able to guess so early on who the killer was. When you only have a handful of characters you can rule out the notably creepy ones, and there aren't many left. Early on it was obvious that Cesar was the least likely of the remaining suspects--hence, our murderer. His motive was not as apparent and even at the end when he explains himself (I love me a good drawing-room final exposition scene) it seemed a wee bit lame and forced.

While I enjoyed Munoz's analysis of the invisible player (why wouldn't he take the white queen, why was the aerosol can left on Julia's car for her to find, etc.), I wasn't really buying his reasons for concluding that Cesar was the killer. Apparently his views are not uncommon (I found an excerpt from "The Psychology of the Chess Player" by Reuben Fine online and I suspect that's where Perez-Reverte found many of these ideas). However, it seems to me that if you go looking for evidence of homosexuality, Oedipal issues, and misogyny you're going to find them no matter where you look. But I think Perez-Reverte may agree with me on this to some extent, since after Munoz laid out his theories, Cesar admitted to using a computer to come up with his moves. Take that, Freud.

Finally--and this is a minor gripe, but something I found distracting--what is with all the smoking while you're restoring a painting that is hundreds of years old? Julia smokes while she works on it, smokes while she stands and looks at it, smokes all day in her apartment where she keeps the painting. This, to me, seems like a dumb idea. Plus, I just got tired of her lighting up every other paragraph.

My favorite parts of the book were those dealing with the game of chess itself. I don't think I've played chess since I was 12 or so and never seriously, so I have just a very basic understanding of the rules, but that's all you really need for this book. In fact, it may be better if you're not a serious chess player since some other reviewers have noted that the unconventional chess is bothersome. I'd always kind of considered chess to be one of those games like Scrabble where you spend most of the game sitting and waiting for your turn, but this book made me want to take it up.

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Feb 18, 2013 Jack rated it 5 of 5 stars

A truly great historical and modern mystery involving an ancient painting, the chess game in the painting as well as the artist's subjects, the art historians trying to solve the riddle of the chess game and the hidden message painted over, a murder mystery taking place among the current observers with connections and parallels at many levels spanning the centuries, with a reclusive chess master as a key investigator. I'll need to read it again to get some of what I missed the first reading, but...more

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Jul 08, 2007 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Perez-Reverte writes fast-paced witty novels, mostly based in his home country of Spain. The Flanders Panel was the first of his that I read, and maybe the very best. It has a mystery and a puzzle about the Flanders Panel, which (if I remember, after many years), has a hidden message in it that reveals an old mystery. Wonderful book.

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Dec 15, 2008 Bob rated it 2 of 5 stars

I got this as a birthday present and took it with me on our Thanksgiving trip. I wish I had taken the Manhattan phone book instead. It would have had a lot more interesting characters and none of them would be such implausible things as the characters of this novel. The whole structure is so contrived it ultimately collapses under its own weight. The book is built around a convoluted metaphor like "art is chess is life is art," but the harder the author works at it, the more tenuous it becomes....more

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Dec 15, 2011 Steven rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, chess, detective-crimes

Truly a disappointment. Written by the Arturo Perez-Reverte who also wrote one of my favorite novels, The Dumas Club, this book was inert. The characters never felt as if they were fully developed, although this was not as bad as the other flaws. As I alluded, the book felt as if it were stationary, as if there was no development, but I am not sure why this was so. Certainly there were events that occurred, the characters did not remain in the same place, and the plot progressed. Yet it seemed l...more

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Nov 26, 2011 Christopher O'Brien rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Christopher by: Myself!

I just finished reading a pleasing, though not quite overwhelming, book, The Flanders Panel, not about Ned Flanders, but about murder and thievery in the art-restoration world--this writer, Perez-Revete, seems to specialize in this sort of book about things happening to rare art specialists--books in The Club Dumas is the other I read of his. It's too short for my taste, but still it's an enjoyable read, though strangely unsatisfying.

***SPOILER***There could have been much more to the ending, b...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Deanna Knippling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nice. A literary mystery that digs into chess, metafiction, and more that I won't mention here, lest I give the plot away.

I figured out the whodunnit very early on. The author makes such a point of saying, "HERE'S THE THEME" so often that it was hard to miss, I think. But, while I normally get bored with mysteries where I clue in that early, this held me throughout: it was almost more fun to study the characters' actions and reactions knowing who was pulling the strings.

The ending still managed...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Mary Rose rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was into this book from the beginning. It evoked a bit of a noir-ish feel in the writing, I enjoyed the descriptions and discussions of art, it explained chess in a way I was able to grasp (I'm not a chess player), and hey I love a good mystery.

I read it in English and I found the translation to be lacking. The narrator would write something that sounded like an English cliche, but change a few of the words around. (I don't have the book or I would give an actual example, but here's a fake one...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Ghostdragon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 23, 2012 Meg rated it 3 of 5 stars

I do love art---and I love reading fiction about art, so a mystery about art....with chess thrown in? Sounded lovely. Sadly, I know nothing about chess...so I hoped this book, would introduce me. While this book was a mystery...and once in a while it was fast enough to act like a mystery, I still found myself a bit bored.....especially when they started to talk about chess. And during the random, unclear flashbacks.

I did enjoy reading about the work---and how Julia tried to figure out who kille...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Carolyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

A friend of mine had read this in Spanish along with Perez-Reverte's other novels and really enjoyed them. I found the language awkward, the characters one-dimensional stereotypes and the plot way too outlandish to suspend my disbelief. I wasn't sure why the characters felt so emotionally involved in the ancient "mystery", and as the present day plot unfolded, there were just too many times I felt a rational person who was not a character in a mystery novel would have behaved differently than th...more

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Good read. Not great.	1	20	Jul 29, 2012 09:37pm
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About Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Spanish novelist and journalist. He worked as war reporter for twenty-one years (1973 - 1994). He started his journalistic career writing for the now-defunct newspaper Pueblo.

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Captain Alatriste (Adventures of Captain Alatriste #1)

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Quotes from The Flanders Panel

“You don't choose your friends, they choose you, and you either reject them or you accept them without reservations.” — 40 people liked it

“Chess is all about getting the king into check, you see. It's about killing the father. I would say that chess has more to do with the art of murder than it does with the art of war.” — 7 people liked it

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