The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly

At the time of writing, this book is top of the paperback fiction chart in the Times newspaper and after reading it I can see why it is so popular.

As ever, I selected the book without putting much thought into it but by the time I had scanned the first few pages, I knew it was going to be a winner. The writing is bright and modern and just a few pages in, a child is stabbed on the street and that is certainly enough to focus the mind. From then on, it's difficult to put the book down.

The idea for the book is taken from the crazy treasure hunt that was launched in the early 1980s with the publication of a beautiful picture book titled, Masquerade.

The author of Masquerade had crafted a beautiful golden hare and buried it somewhere in the countryside, and anyone who could solve the clues hidden in the text and pictures could dig up the hare and keep it. I was newly married at the time and my husband and I bought a copy as soon as it was published, and like every other reader, we were convinced we would be able to solve the clues and walk away with the prize. People went mad for a while and anyone who had anything unusual in their front garden, such as topiary or an ancient tree, had to chase off treasure hunters almost every weekend.

This time the treasure is all fictional, and after reading their copy of The Golden Bones, the readers search for tiny golden bones that will eventually make a complete skeleton. The Golden Bones tells the mythical story that once all of Elinore's bones have been discovered, she can rise up and come back to life, and some of the more disturbed readers have come to believe something like this will actually happen.

Frank Churcher is author of The Golden Bones and when it was written in 1976, he was so pleased with its success that he named his own daughter after the main character, although changed the spelling to Eleanor. How could he have known that some of the 'bone hunters' would consider his daughter to be some sort of trophy her own right? So it wasn't long before she had to have personal security to keep her safe. The book took over the lives of the whole Churcher family, and also the lives of their best friends who lived right next door, and things got a lot worse by the time there was only one bone left to find.

The Skeleton Key is a roller coaster of plot twists and revelations with plenty of suspense weaving throughout the book. It is masterfully written by an experienced author who has created believable characters across three generations and a number of different social groups.

Comments

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