The Flanders Panel in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 11, 2014 Bogdan rated it liked it

Shelves: latin-and-neo-latin

An interesting detective novel, with a historical background. I wished the murderer from modern times to have a better motivation and even a connection of some sort with the murderer from the 14th century painting. But I enjoyed it even without that connection.

The premise, at the beginning, seems to be an investigation of a mysterious 14th century Flemish painting. After some time, it is obvious that it is more about finding a contemporary (with the story) murderer that has an interesting fetish An interesting detective novel, with a historical background. I wished the murderer from modern times to have a better motivation and even a connection of some sort with the murderer from the 14th century painting. But I enjoyed it even without that connection.

The premise, at the beginning, seems to be an investigation of a mysterious 14th century Flemish painting. After some time, it is obvious that it is more about finding a contemporary (with the story) murderer that has an interesting fetish with chess. In the end, as in a good old fashion classic detective story, the mystery is revealed. Interesting how the mystery was build-up, but I wished something more. Thus my rating is 4 for premise.

Regarding the form, Arturo is great at building up suspense and creating some eccentric characters. All the characters in this novel, or almost all, have one or more weird or out of ordinary trait. But they all smoke exaggeratedly. Overall, I will rate it with a 3 for form.

In terms of originality, the history with the painting and how it is connected with the story is fairly original. But in general terms the story remains a classical detective story, with a detective that it is an amateur chess player. So I will give it a 3 for the level of originality.

The characters, are interesting. Almost every one has his or hers oddness. Apart from that, they are interesting, women speaking like women and men like men. And some of them also change as the story evolves. So I'll rate it with a 4.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, the mystery seemed to be a lot more complex than the one revealed at the end of the book. At the same time the author uses greatly the historical background to add some references or small pieces of information in the story about paintings or the history of 14th century Europe. Thus, I will rate it then with a 4 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, there were some minor flaws in these story, but they can be overlooked and usually will not spoil the story. The first such glitch is why Munoz accepts to help Julia, a motivation quite important for the rest of the story. Another one is the motivation of the murderer. My rating for credibility is then 2.

The last criteria is edition. I had an ebook that unfortunately did not contained pictures for chess instructions or various chess positions during the story. Thus it was very hard for me to follow part of the story that connected with the chess play, continued from the stage of the painting. I will rate it with a 1.

To summarize, I liked this novel, even if I was deceived about what to expect. I thought I am reading a historical novel until at some point (after reading about a quarter) I discovered I am reading a detective story. All in all, my final rating for it is 3.00, which requires no rounding on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 1 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 3.00 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

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Aug 15, 2020 Nancy H rated it liked it

This is a very complex and complicated mystery that uses chess as the basis for the plot and for the machinations of the murderer. Based on a chess game she is uncovering as she restores an old painting, Julia finds herself in a web of deceit and manipulation. When two of her acquaintances are murdered in the process of trying to figure out what is happening, Julia has to rely on her old mentor César, and her new acquaintance, chess master Munoz, for help. Things do not go according to how Julia ...more

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Dec 23, 2010 Deedee rated it really liked it

Shelves: translation, contemporary-fiction, fiction-art-themed, challenge-2011-winter

Inspired by an actual painting: "La partida de ajedrez" by pieter van huys. Look at the cover of the French language version of this book to see the actual painting.
Interesting story, disappointing last 25 pages; however, I'll definately track down Perez's other books. ...more

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