Disappointing....
"....Each game of Chess means there's one less variation left to be played. Each day got through means one or two less mistakes left to be made......And in the end we see a game that stated by mistake in Hindustan, and boosted in the main by what is now Iran, become the simplest and most complicated pleasure yet derived for just the kind of mind who would apprecaite this well-researched and fascinating yarn." (Chess, The Musical, "The Story of Chess")
While I am truly fascinated by Chess, and its implications in life, death, and murder/mysteries such as this one, based upon the discovery of a hidden incription in an ancient painting, I was utterly disappointed by The Flanders Panel and can't recommend it. Although I am not a chess afficionado, I had no trouble understanding the references, descriptions and strategies employed throughout the novel. However I believe this novel requires a reader of somewhat elevated intelligence to even get through it. It is extremely slow and somewhat boring in its lengthy and repetitive dicta and perhaps is meant truly for chess masters who probably have much more patience than this reader
