The Flanders Panel

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780553377866.

Julia is a young art expert in Madrid. Her specialty is the restoration of paintings about to go up for auction. But her latest project could also be her last. A fifteenth-century masterpiece, the painting depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight, as a lady in black velvet sits in the background. What makes this project different is the hidden inscription Julia discovers in the corner: Quis Necavit Equitem. Translation: Who killed the knight? Breaking the silence of five centuries, Julias hunt for a Renaissance murderer leads her into a modern-day game of sin, betrayal, and death--every move calculated with devilish precision. And as the stakes rise, Julia finds herself exposed and vulnerable to attack from everywhere. Unsure whether she is a player or just a pawn, all she knows for certain is that her passion for art has made her an object of deadly obsession. In a mystery of eloquence, wit, seduction, and suspense which marks the debut of a writer Europeans are already comparing to Umberto Eco, the solution is a tour de force of intrigue.