katherine nevill's "The 8"

[southportram]

i read a book by kathrine nevel called "the 8", it was an excellent book about a chess set that holds a key to eternal life and how the set called the "montglaine service" got split up to prevent anyone finding out the secret.  the story jumps from the past and the present whereby two groups of people hunt for the service to find out its secrets.  it is by far the best book that i have read in a long time and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a book of a similar nature to recommend, because since then i really have not read anything that good for a long while now. (apart from the new harry potter of course!!!)

[woofgang]

I enjoyed the eight and thought this was similar

http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/Landscape_of_Lies/0689120834/

[Golem]

Try The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa, published in 1996 by Bantam.

It's about an art historian who discovers some hidden text in a 15C painting called The Chess Game. She realises that the position of the chess pieces in the picture are a clue to a murder mystery. As she tries to solve the puzzle the chess game begins to repeat itself in the events that happen to her.

A very clever, well written novel that was a best seller in France and Spain. Comparable to The Name of the Rose in style; I recommend it.