Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Chess Machine, by Robert Lohr

"A RICH AND ENGROSSING TALE ABOUT ONE OF THE GREATEST HOAXES OF ALL TIME

VIENNA 1770 - Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils a strange, amazing invention, the Mechanical Turk, a sensational and unbeatable chess-playing automaton [read: robot]. But what the Hapsburg court hails as the greatest innovation of the century is hardly what it appears to be. And when a beautiful and seductive countess dies under mysterious circumstances in the presence of the Turk, both machine and inventor find themselves at the heart of a web of intrigue and espionage. Daring and brilliant, The Chess Machine - based on a bizarre true story - is a classic portrait of envy, lust, scandal, and deception."

OK, so, I was close. With a few misplaced details. So, it's set in the Hapsburg court, not the Spanish. And the lady wasn't playing chess; she was just in the same room...

Unfortunately, any time people mention the Hapsburg's, all I can think about is this:


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