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The Secrets of the Chess Machine
  • Published: 30 June 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141919553
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

The Secrets of the Chess Machine



An empress, a dwarf, a courtesan, an orgy, a masked ball, a roof-top chase, true love and two murders at the court of the Habsburgs ...

In Vienna in 1770 Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils his astonishing invention: the Mechanical Turk, an unbeatable chess-playing machine. But von Kempelen is no mechanical genius. Rather, he’s a conman, as Tibor, the dwarf locked inside the device, will attest.

As the pair tour Europe and become involved in a host of picaresque adventures, barely keeping the secret as they beat all comers, they at last come unstuck when a beautiful countess dies in the presence of the Turk.

Suddenly von Kempelen, Tibor and his Turk are the objects of suspicion and the targets of persecution and espionage. And that is before more unexplained deaths further complicate matters …

  • Published: 30 June 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141919553
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

Praise for The Secrets of the Chess Machine

If you liked Perfume by Patrick Süskind, then you'll love The Secrets of the Chess Machine. Löhr's magical novel of murder and intrigue in the age of enlightenment will grip you from the very first page

Harper's Bazaar

Solid, briskly paced historical fiction

The Observer

A wonderful romp…full of intrigue, betrayal, violence, chases, sexual tensions and unexpected encounters

The Independent