As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot...plenty of reviews like that out there already!

I was drawn to this book as the publisher's notes triggered memories of the furore caused by the publication of the Kit Williams book, "Masquerade" many years ago. I was fascinated by that book and loved the illustrations.

This book, though somewhat inspired by that, is entirely different. Far more sinister, as a number of deranged individuals misinterpreted the meaning of the book's premise...leading to dangerous times for the author's family...

The characters are very well written - not all are likeable, which adds to the depth of the writing - and the story weaves back and forth in time (always a plus for me).

There are dark undertones to the story - deeply buried family secrets and lies, hidden meanings in artworks, and a vivid picture of life in a dysfunctional family setup. That said, there is also light and optimism.

Without giving anything away, I was quite pleased at the outcome. I would recommend this book if you love "treasure hunt" type novels with an intriguing backstory - and more than a few twists!

I will look forward to reading more from this author!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

The writing in The Skeleton Key was absolutely stunning. It was poetic, and it was so atmospheric I could clearly imagine what was unfolding, making me feel like I was right there in the events.

The story itself was interesting enough. I love books with treasure hunts and I’d hoped this would be engaging, allowing me to solve the puzzles alongside the characters. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t hit the mark, and instead of pulling me in and keeping me there, I almost didn’t want to pick the book up to continue reading because I was bored and lost interest quickly. The mystery surrounding the golden bone felt pushed to the side, and I didn’t feel like it received much attention. The focus was more on the characters, which is totally fine. I think I just held my expectations too high and expected different from what I got.

If you go into this book with no expectations, I think it’ll be a massive hit, especially if you love books with dysfunctional families, but for me, it just didn’t work. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

Fifty years ago Sir Frank Churcher, artist & author wrote a book that captured world-wide attention. Part picture book, part treasure hunt the idea was to find & reunite tiny golden bones of a skeleton. Once all the pieces were connected, the quest for lost Elinore would finally be over as she rises again to be reunited with her lover. This book had a huge impact. People sold up their homes, marriages broke up & an online community called the Bone Hunters kept the internet buzzing. A man died & Frank's teenage daughter Nell was attacked by someone convinced they had to cut the missing bone from her. No wonder she became a recluse, but now to 'celebrate' the golden anniversary, the launch of an online version & the final reveal of the lost bone she returns home with Billie, her foster child.

I fell in love with the cover of this book (not very logical as I read it on Kindle!) but I was totally hooked from the start on the story of these two dysfunctional families & the quest. I loved Nell & Billie & read this all in a day. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book- one of my top reads of the year!

I really enjoyed this book as I felt the concept was really original. Told partly through the eyes of Nell, the daughter of two artists who have created a cult mystery/hunt picture book called The Golden Bones that has “bonehunters” around the world obsessed with finding the bones, very often at a serious expense to her. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the book, a special online app is being launched (think Pokémon Go), but the launch reveals a whole ton of family skeletons in the closet …
I really enjoyed this one. The characters feel very real and believable and I actually found myself believing in “The Golden Bones”! It’s a great seasonal read, too

this was an addictive read, The characters are well-developed and very real. Sometime their decisions made my blood boil but it all added to the story. It was an interresting story and i was completly invested in it. There was plenty of twists and turns. The story had a dark gothic vibe to it and i would definiatlly recommend.

I’ve been a fan of Erin Kelly for a while, and always find myself gripped by her books. The Skeleton Key was no exception.

I was expecting duplicity and events hidden in plain sight thanks to having read a few of Kelly’s books. That didn’t mean I was any better at anticipating what form they would come in or be any less surprised when the layers shrouding each character slowly retreated to reveal the truth of the situation.

Nell was a fantastic main character: she’s both outside of the events taking place and more central to them than she wants to admit to. Nell has been haunted since a child by the success of her father’s best-selling work, and you feel her reluctance to be involved again.

But as events yet again take a turn towards the dramatic, Nell has no choice to get to the truth of what is going on: for her own safety and the safety of the family she is trying to build.

There’re layers of deception; characters not being who Nell – and therefore, us as the reader – believe; and the truth about how far things can go when something has a passionate following who are prepared to leave sense behind.

Kelly’s writing is as gripping as ever. While this story had a slower pace than some of her previous novels, I couldn’t put it down. She has a masterful way of increasing the tension but keeping the pacing steady. The few jumps into the past gave us good insight into some of the main characters rather than having them offer a narration in the present day – it prevented them undermining any of the reveals or throwing the reader off.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The violence compared to her others is minimal (not that the others are particularly violent), and it felt a different style due to no sudden change in narration or perspective halfway through. But it was an engaging and gripping book that I recommend to either fans of Kelly’s writing or those looking for a gripping book.

Frank and Lal are friends who find inspiration in the folksongs and myths that Cora (subject of Frank's desire) shares with them. Together they create a book that weaves myths and clues and illustrations and promises golden buried treasure for anyone who can decipher it. As their lives intertwine Frank marries Cora, Lal marries Bridget and the four live in adjoining houses and share their imperfect lives. The popularity of their book leads to obsessive Bonehunters some of whom see Frank's daughter Nell as the final clue - and try to cut her bones out.

Spread between the 60s, 90s and current day Nell lives with the paranoia of being constantly hunted. However the wide reaching effects of Frank's bestseller are destructive not just for her when a reveal for the anniversary publication goes horrifically wrong as a real murder victims bones are uncovered.

This is a clever and plot twisting tale inspired heavily by the 1970s book Masquerade (read it if you haven't). Nell is a tricky character as her paranoia makes her an unreliable narrator and the woven storylines between the decades do take some twisting to wrap up

Saw this described as 'an excellent reminder of why we love reading' and I honestly could not agree more. It had me completely glued to the page and awake in the early hours of the morning desperately trying to pull the threads together. Truly ingenious. Erin Kelly has done it again!

Family sage meets murder mystery in this compelling story of treasure hunts, legacies and past hurts. An absorbing read. Highly recommend.

I've loved Erin Kelly's novels since reading her debut, The Poison Tree and her writing reminds me of the great Ruth Rendell, one of my favourite authors. Kelly's novels are so original and each one is totally unique.
In 2021 Nell returns to the family home to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of her father's book, The Golden Bones which was a publishing sensation and led to Nell becoming a recluse.
I wasn't sure about this one when I read the synopsis and it did take me a while to get into it. However, I persevered, and I found it to be an intriguing and utterly compelling read. I was really drawn to the characters and the relationships between the two families and felt that the multiple timelines and narrators worked well. A recommended read.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

A slow start for this mystery thriller but an interesting premise surrounding a picture book and a treasure hunt. A powerful read.

I think I've started to realise that games and treasure hunts within stories don't really do it for me. I just didn't find myself hooked into this one, despite the rather interesting premise. Two families embroiled in a lifetime of secrets and intertwined histories. A book that contains the answers to a hidden fortune. However, I just didn't like any of the characters, or find them interesting enough for me to really care about the plot. The flashbacks may have helped to build up the character's backstories, but really it slowed the pacing a lot and also all the backstory just added to their unpleasantness. There's very little in the way of tension or mystery, with a lot of the book focusing too much on the family dynamics.

Needed more mysterious aspects for me to enjoy this one, but the writing was well done so I might consider another book by this author in the future.

First to address the elephant in the room- there were no skeleton keys. However, there didn't need to be. The writing was great; having Nell be the main character really highlighted how all the adults in her life are awful people. She could've ended up that way too if it weren't for Billie. I loved the Poirot/Murder on the orient express vibes going on in the book and at the end. I was on the edge of my seat wondering who was responsible. 4.5/5 stars.

4.5/5, what an interesting and excellent book! I loved reading this book! I was captivated by the story, and the way the families existed alongside each other whilst having so much hidden from each other. I think the idea behind this book, and the book within the book, are excellent and were executed really well!

Rating 4.5/5

I just knew that this book would be right up my street, the secrets, the family drama, and the mystery sounded fantastic but I was not at all expecting just quite how much I would be sucked into the lives of the family at the centre of this story. After reading the description I thought that the hunt for the golden bone would be the main part of the story but it’s the relationship between the Churchers and the Lallys and how the family is tangled together through choice, through circumstance, and through The Golden Bones that is the focus, and I loved it.

The characters were fascinating, some were toxic and manipulative, some were caring and loyal, they were all deeply flawed and trying to survive as best as they could with the fame and the furore that came with the success of the book The Golden Bones. Nobody in the book was particularly likeable but I think this worked brilliantly in this kind of story because it added to the stress and the tension of the plot but also the dysfunction of the family itself.

The story is told through multiple POVs and flashbacks to a few different timelines, and even though I feel it had the potential to be confusing in some respects I felt like it worked well here. I enjoyed getting to see what lead the characters to their decisions and enjoyed that each little reveal had a big impact on the story. I also loved that there was a magical but dark atmosphere throughout the book, there was something about the folklore that is involved in The Golden Bones and the lengths that people went to interpret it, which seeps into the main story and helped to keep me entranced.

I am not going to delve much into the plot because I honestly wouldn’t know where to start, this is a story that has been so well crafted and is both captivating and twisted. This author has a knack for throwing me off guard, there were so many unexpected events and reveals and I could not put the book down as it headed into the final stages of the story. This book has been playing on my mind since I finished it and I am still thinking about these characters and still getting hit with jolts of realisation about the events and consequences in the story. It is the best kind of book hangover.

The Skeleton Key is the first book by Erin Kelly that I have read but I doubt it will be the last.

Title: The Skeleton Key
Written by: Erin Kelly
Pub Date 1 Sep 2022
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Theme: Mystery & Thrillers

Frank Churcher has managed to make an amazing book that not only tells a story but also includes a treasure hunt of sorts. Churcher's story tells of a murdered woman who's body was hidden, the book gives the clues to where her body parts lay. People, fan's, hunters who ever they are have searched the whole of England in search for her. Some of them even think the story is a true one and that when Elinore is put back together she will live again.

Only one bone remains and Frank has decided to tell fan's where it is. But will this news cause more harm than the whole history of the hunt.

Personally I began to dislike this book almost immediately. I feel the narrations was very negative from the beginning. For instance the description of Cora and her bedsit. The misogyny of Franks lust for Cora but seemed uninterested in her as a person. This was later fallowed up by the fact that Frank had several affairs. There also seems to be an anti Irish/xenophobic feel to it.

I am aware that Kelly probably has Irish ancestry but this piece felt very anti Irish well before page 5o. Lal being an alcoholic, turning down a knighthood as he say himself as being a soldier of Ireland. Not forget that he saw him self as Catholic and was there for against abortion. There was also her mention that the children were given Irish names just to annoy the English, and not as a continence of heritage.

With in the first 50 pages I found so much of the materiel to be so problematic that I gave up. there was no way I was going to read another 400+ pages. Even the hint of Pedophilia /ephebophilia was enough for me. If your wondering where that accursed it was when Eleanor thought Oisin was checking Billie out.

Kelly also had a habit of telling which was probably just as good given the size the book already was. And while I have no problem with books that swap timelines, I felt this book was all over the place, by about page 50 we had already been to 1992, 1969, 2021, 1972. As if that wasn't bad enough we then have Eleanor tell us about the past too. And as for the kids, I have no idea how some of them were raised by feminists, up until this point I didn't really see any feminism, only judgement.

There also seemed to be very little setting of scenes. I didn't feel like I was in 70's London or any other time period. There was no change in atmosphere and I felt the description of the female characters was lazy.

Not sure what it says about the writing style to say that it was an easy read. I could have seen myself finishing it in just a few days. Which is saying something as a book of this size would usually take me a month or more. Personally I don't think I would have called it poetic, perhaps flowing would be a better term. Having said that it was just too problematic for me.

Kelly seems to have wanted to make this book so many genres that she has failed (in my opinion) to make it anyone thing. If this is how mysteries are written in general I will stick to plain fiction thanks. All be it none problematic ones. To be honest it is probably my own fault, I saw the stunning cover and read the blurb. Due to both I requested it, only when my request was granted did I realize I had read a book by this author before and didn't like it much.

I can see the type of audience this would appeal to but unfortunately, it is not for this woke, agnostic, feminist, Irish woman. (The non Irish soldier type!)

I loved the premise of this and it actually works.
The writing style was very engaging with a very strong plot but it does time hop quite a bit and together with the introduction of so many characters, I found this hard going in places.

This is a compelling and original thriller, quite different from anything I have read before. It is incredibly well thought out with twists I definitely didn’t see coming. Nell is an appealing, offbeat heroine from a dysfunctional family and I so wanted her to triumph. The novel just gets more and more exciting as the story goes on. I would recommend starting this book when you have lots of time to lose yourself in it!

In the summer of 2021, Nell returns to her family home to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Golden Bones, written by her father.
In part a treasure hunt, the book led to a group of obsessed fans joining together as The Bonehunters, convinced that Nell is actually Elinore, the main character in The Golden Bones, and that she knows where the last missing piece of treasure is.
Full of mystery, twists and turns, The Skeleton Key’s narrative darts between past and present, revealing ugly family secrets along the way.
I really enjoyed it, but it’s not an easy read - there are a lot of characters and details to remember- but definitely a book worth spending time over.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Loved loved this one!! Gripping and exciting and as always a fab read and can't wait to see what this author does next :)