The English Morphy by Owen Hindle and Bob James is a fascinating look at the life of a strong master who has been forgotten for many years. The authors have not only collected 101 of De Vere's games, but delved deeply into his life and present a detailed picture of a tragic figure.

The idea for the title of this book comes from Steinitz, who compared the young Cecil De Vere with Morphy. Indeed, though he lived only 29 years, De Vere had several impressive tournament performances to his credit. Besides winning the first British Championship in 1866, he also placed a very creditable fifth at Paris 1867 and equal third at Dundee 1867. All this despite having almost no book knowledge.

Unfortunately, around the time of De Vere's greatest successes, he discovered he had tuberculosis which, combined with depression and alcoholism, caused him to pass away well before his time. But the story doesn't end with his death. De Vere went by the name of Cecil Valentine Brown until the age of his majority. It was assumed during his life that De Vere simply made the change to have a more aristocratic sounding name, but co-author Bob James has another theory. While trying to locate De Vere's grave in Torquay he stumbled across the headstone of William Cecil De Vere who was a member of a very prominent family in the region. He quickly realized that this wasn't the De Vere he was looking for, as the birth and death dates didn't match, but it did seem rather odd. Even odder, De Vere was buried under the name Cecil Valentine Brown but twenty feet away. Strangely the obelisk, purchased after an appeal to the chess community almost ten years after De Vere's death, was missing, almost as if a conscious effort were made to erase all mention of him. James makes an interesting stab at trying to explain these puzzles.

If you like game collections and mysteries you will want to get this book.

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