Julia is a young, talented art restorer hired to prepare a 1471 masterpiece by Flemish artist Pieter Van Huys, titled The Chess Game, for a high-profile auction. The painting depicts the Duke of Flanders and a knight locked in a game of chess while a mysterious woman reads a book in the background. Whilst X-raying the painting, Julia discovers a hidden Latin inscription underneath layers of paint: Quis necavit equitem? (“Who killed the knight?”).
Intrigued, Julia launches an investigation into the history of the painting. She discovers that the real-life knight depicted in the painting was brutally murdered two years before the portrait was completed. To decode the artist’s hidden message, Julia must figure out who is winning the painted chess match, hoping the game’s outcome identifies the historical killer.
This novel treats art not as a static object, but as a living document capable of shifting timelines and concealing dangerous truths. The rigid, predictable rules of chess are juxtaposed against the chaotic, emotional impulses of human murder and greed. We see that the past is never truly buried. Its legacy actively shapes and endangers the present.
Awarded the prestigious Grand Prix Annuel de Littérature Policière in France.
Before turning to fiction full-time, Arturo Perez-Reverte (Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Author of The Club Dumas)) spent 21 years (1973–1994) working as a war correspondent for RTVE and the newspaper Pueblo, covering global conflicts in Bosnia, the Sahara, and the Falklands.
This is a brilliant mystery thriller that will have you captivated. Check if the work is in stock at your local library by consulting the online catalogue here Home | South Lanarkshire Libraries (sllclibrary.co.uk)
304 pages in Harvest Books
First published 1990
ISBN-13 : 978-0156029582
Arturo Perez-Reverte