When she was a child Nell's father published a book called The Golden Bones. A mix between a picture book and a treasure hunt the book held clues to to the burial sites of the bones from a tiny golden skeleton, scattered across England. The book was a sensation, and led to a community of treasure hunters (known as Bonehunters) who became obsessive about piecing the skeleton together - some so much so that they put Nell in serious danger. As an adult Nell lives her life as a recluse, taking great care not to attract the attention of the Bonehunters. Nell's father is planning to celebrate the 50 year anniversary with an updated version of the treasure hunt, extending the book with an app that allows hunters worldwide to participate. Unfortunately this means that once again Nell is in the public eye.

I think I misread the synopsis for this one, as I went in expecting a sort of treasure hunt style book with clues to solve. That's not the format of the book, it's actually more of a family drama & mystery than anything else. It didn't matter though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading regardless.

I had mixed feelings about Nell as a character. In the beginning I appreciated her strong morals, but towards the end of the book I was becoming frustrated with her and starting to see her as a little hypocritical. Near enough all of the rest of the characters in the book are decidedly unlikeable though, especially Frank and Cora, Nell's parents.

The storyline fascinated me. I loved how Kelly wove the past and present together, essentially showing how the characters' previous actions have all lead to where the family is today. I found myself getting caught up in the mystery of where the final bone was hidden, and even though that is revealed part way through the book the reveal itself is explosive and sets up the later half of the book.

There is a lot going on with the various mysteries running through the plot, but ultimately the real story running through the book is one of a seriously dysfunctional family, headed by a narcissist who is continually enabled by those around him. I found Nell's paranoia about the Bonehunters hard to believe, but I could totally understand the difficulties in her relationship with her family.

This was a book that really drew me in. Family drama isn't a genre that I usually gravitate towards as I can find them to be a bit intense. I think Kelly did a great job with this one in having the mysteries running along side the drama helped to balance the tension.

This is my first book by Erin Kelly, but it certainly won't be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Dan Brown quest with a difference - folklore, family and bones! The mystic tale is based on folklore conjured up by close friends Frank and Lal back in the nineties! If the bones of the beautiful Eleanor can be found and then put together, the story has it that she will come back to life! It becomes a world wide phenomenon encouraging Bone Hunters everywhere to work out the complex clues and cryptograms devised by Frank. Searching the countryside, following all the clues, the bones are eventually found apart from one, the pelvic bone! Unfortunately, there are extremists within the Bone Hunters and Nell, Franks daughter’s , named after the unfortunate Eleanor, becomes a casualty and life is not easy for her. Frank and Lal’s family live next door and look out for each other though as the tale progresses, this too is taken to extremes. They pay for the price of fame and we follow the intrigue and complexity of solving the riddle of the missing bone with them! I was held fast from beginning to end. The family relationships were so alive with frustrations, humour, terror and loyalty - they were human! I also wanted to live on Nell’s houseboat! A book to really get your teeth into!

Wow an absolute whirlwind of a story. I cannot praise or recommend this book highly enough. So many twists and turns and plenty of deceit and elements of the very worst in human nature.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book took me all round the houses and back again... I was shattered when I eventually finished! Not that it was hard work, don't get me wrong. Just a lot of trying to figure it out and chasing my tail when another of my theories didn't pan out.
So... Nell has returned home to her (mostly) estranged family to celebrate the anniversary of her father's famous book - The Golden Bones - a treasure hunt book that, well, let's just say has been the bane of the majority of Nell's life. But I'll leave you to discover the whys and wherefores of that. Suffice to say that things don't quite go according to plan and shenanigans ensue as a skeleton is found. Flitting between the present and the past in multiple timelines the truth of what it all is really about starts to come out. With corresponding, at time almost spectacular, fallout...
This is a long book and it contains a lot of story. Told over a long timespan. But it never felt long, or overwhelming. It's colourful and rich and contains some of the best and dysfunctional characters I have read about in time. Nell herself I took to immediately. Others took a while and some I was never sure about - often with good reason! I especially enjoyed the "interconnections" between the Churchers and the Lallys in what I would guess would be a co-dependent relationship. Of sorts anyway. The treasure hunt parts were exciting to read about and the parts about the Bonehunters and the forum were so well done.
The action ramps up as the story crescendos to finally give up the whole truth, and exhausted I sat back and applauded the author for a job well done. Never saw the half of all that!
I've read and enjoyed a few of this author's books but I think this one is definitely my favourite. So much so that I am itching to get my hands on the Audible and re-listening to the story.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly.
THIS REUNION WILL TEAR A FAMILY APART ...
Wow. A beautiful intriging book. I loved the cover. Definitely recommend. 5*.

In May 1992, sixteen-year-old Eleanor Churcher gave her bodyguard the slip. Ingrid her stalker, intent on removing her pelvis, attacked her with a knife. In Ingrid’s mind that pelvis was the last golden bone needed to bring Elinore back to life. Eleanor survived, but with a shattered, paranoid view of the world in which she must live; Ingrid was incarcerated for life in an institution; Elinore remained the fictional subject of an old folksong. All because, in 1969, Frank Churcher and his soon to be wife, Cora, conceived the idea for a book. Cora, an authority on old folksongs, was particularly interested in “To Gather the Bones”, in which Elinore was murdered by her husband, who then scattered her bones across the country. Tam, her secret lover, searched for and finally recovered the bones and, by a combination of magic and love, restored her to life. Frank, an impoverished artist, creates a series of pictures showing scenes from the song and, with the help of his best friend and fellow artist, Lal, they devise a plan. A small, articulated, gold skeleton comprised of seven bones is created, the bones are hidden around Britain, and a book containing Frank’s pictures, Cora’s verses and (mainly) Lal’s riddles is published in 1971. People are invited to buy the book, solve the clues and find the bones. This could have been a short term phenomenon but some fans, the “Bonehunters”, become fanatics, and some begin to think that it’s all real – that finding all the bones and assembling the skeleton will bring Elinore back to life.
That is a very long introduction, but it provides the basis against which the attack on Eleanor, and all the other events in the book makes sense. It is, however, not the main thrust of the book, which is much more an analysis of the two families, Frank’s and Lal’s living more or less as a ménage á deux or more accurately á neuf as Lal acquires a wife and both couples produce children, of whom Eleanor is the eldest. Outwardly a mutually supportive arrangement, all sorts of problems and secrets accumulate and come to a head when celebrations are planned for the fiftieth anniversary, and the reveal of the last remaining bone – that pelvis that Mad Ingrid was searching for. The whole organisation of the “Bonehunters” is almost a story in itself as it illustrates the way in which the internet and social networks can allow disparate people to act together and how false ideas can become dominant and dangerous. The story is largely told from Eleanor’s point of view, with insights into events which she will only learn of later. In a number of instances, we see the same event from different points of view with different interpretations dependent on the viewer. The plot is hugely complex, the foregoing doesn’t even scratch the surface, and the different interpretations provide an other layer of complexity. Everything does, eventually, coalesce and we end up with Eleanor at last complete (as is Elinore, of course). It is quite a trip.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I really enjoyed this book. I remember enjoying looking at all the pictures in the masquerade as a child. The story follows the Churcher and Laly families and how their lives are so entwined with one another and also the treasure hunt book created by Frank Churcher. There are many unlikeable characters but as the reader you still want to dig deeper and get to know them better. There are many twists and turns and it's also difficult to know who is trustworthy and who is not. Everyone seems to have a reason to be untrustworthy on occasion, but sometimes arguably for the right reasons. I loved the annecdote at the end, it explains (& justifies?) a lot! Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

I was really hooked into this one almost immediately. I had never heard of Masquerade by Kit Williams and its bookish treasure hunt before, so appreciated the author's short introduction. What an intriguing idea and Erin Kelly has taken that and created this fantastic, entertaining and original story.

We begin with an introduction to the Churchers and the Lallys - two families so close they are almost one. Loud, chaotic and unconventional in a number of ways everyone is gathering to celebrate the anniversary of The Golden Bones - a ridiculously successful treasure hunt book that has captivated fans for 50 years. The idea of the book is to reunite the bones to bring the character of Elinor back to life. The bones are hidden in the real world and the mystery has attracted a devoted following of Bonehunters. Some of these hunters will go to any length and Nells life has been put in danger more than once by desperate fans.

As the daughter of Frank Churcher, the creator of the Golden Bones her life has been only complicated by the book and the unwanted attention it has brought. Now living on a narrow boat and trying to live a life away from the drama, she is rather unwillingly pulled back into the family circle to celebrate the anniversary. When a promotion stunt around the last remaining missing bone goes spectacularly wrong, the hunt for the missing bone spirals out of control and family secrets are uncovered.

The story slips between the past and the present and is told from the viewpoints of several of the characters. Would have been easy to lose the pace of the story but I felt this was brilliantly done and really added to the getting to know the characters and understanding their motivations and relationships.

I really liked the main character of Nell with her splashes of humour and wry observations. I really felt for her when her life was uprooted by the hunt, putting not only her life in danger but also her relationship with Billie, a young woman she is caring for on the line. Their relationship too was really well written capturing the genuine affection as well as the teasing and the tensions.

Actually all the central characters were really well written. Balanced and believable- Frank with his ego, big hearted Lal, childlike Cora and Dominic who wants to protect his mum but also gain his fathers approval.

Great portrayal of family dynamics too where your family can be a safe harbour but at the same time be able to push all your buttons. They are also the people who know where the bodies are buried (literally in this case) and the way Nell struggles with her conflicting emotions over different members of the family is so well done.

While the main thrust of the story is the Golden Bones, it has many layers and subplots so the reader is kept fully entertained throughout - fame, ageing, family, secrets, money, ego, jealousy- so much going on but all beautifully held together. A special mention to the portrayal of how men and women are treated differently by society as they age through the characters of Cora and Frank (oh I could happily have slapped Frank!!)

Great pacing as the story builds to a climax and it left me wondering if I would agree with Nells moral stance as all the secrets are revealed. While pretty dark in places this book still manages to be fun and original and I absolutely loved it.

Huge thank you to Net Galley & Hodder & Stoughton for the chance to read an early copy

Call me old fashioned but I do not buy into the relatively modern school of thought that a book is improved directly in proportion to the number of useless and random expletives that are included: 127 variations of the f-word alone in this example!!

That aside, the book contrived to lose me several times. Whether due to woolliness or me losing focus I cannot say. Either reason confirms that I was unable to connect in any meaningful way until I arrived at chapter 113. Arriving there, it was almost like breaking out into sunshine, the story came alive and finally made some coherent sense. I want to be generous and so 3 stars.

My first and last Erin Kelly book.

This took a me a while to get into the story as I didn’t really like any of the characters to begin with. As I read on though, I began to become involved in the story of this family whose lives had been taken over by the treasure hunt inspired by a book.
The main focus character is Nell, daughter of the author of The Golden Bones and her life has been totally overshadowed by the book and the obsession of some of its readers. One of my favourite parts of the book was the relationship between her and her unofficial step-daughter. This is a really caring relationship which is in direct contrast to Nell’s relationship with her own parents.
This is an intricately plotted story using and the timelines and character viewpoints change frequently and the changes sometimes felt abrupt and confusing. I did enjoy the gradual revealing of all of the secrets that had been concealed over the years and there were a couple of surprising twists too.
This was an imaginative and well written story and I am grateful to Net Galley and the publishers for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Skeleton Key is just my sort of book. A dark family led story with lots of secrets that have been hidden for years.
Frank Churcher wrote a hugely successful treasure hunt book called the The Golden Bones 50 years ago, it laid a series of clues to 7 golden bones scattered across the country. It has made his family very rich but has also brought them many problems, particularly their daughter Nell. From an early age age she has been targeted by the Bonehunters, an obsessive group of treasure hunters who believe she hold the clue to the final missing bone.
The book is being re-released for the 50th anniversary and Frank has gathered his friends and family to watch him unveil the location of the final bone. What happens next opens up a whole can of worms and soon the Churchers and their close friends, the Lallys, find out far more than they want to about their intertwined lives over the last half a century.
Frank Churcher is a fabulous and horrifying invention, as patriarch, father and friend, he has damaged everyone around him, it’s time for him to get his comeuppance. However, for that to happen the family need to be honest with each other and that isn’t going to be easy.
I would highly recommend this book, it’s the perfect novel to settle down and get lost in. A great cast of characters, a clever plot and a highly satisfying ending. Thank you to #netgalley and #HodderBooks for allowing me to review this ARC

There was sometimes a bit too much going on in this book, feel like I need to read it again because am certain I missed things the first time round. Having said that, I did really enjoy this book and was gripped from start to finish.

A novel about a literary treasure hunt with a mystery at its heart - a description the stands good for the novel itself. Very cleverly written so that the novel’s theme mirrors the theme of the book it is written about. Thoroughly gripping and a first class read.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher & Erin for the ARC.

A fast paced thriller, difficult to tear yourself away from. Well written and expertly crafted.

This was an excellent book! I loved it. The story is about Nell who comes back to the family home to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Golden Bones, the book wrote by her father. Your drawn into the story and want to discover all the secrets. The different time lines are easy to follow. Keeps you interested throughout.
It’s a beautifully written complex mystery, murder, family saga. I definitely recommend.
Thanks to #NetGallery #HodderandStoughton #ErinKelly for an arc of #TheSkeletonKey in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I sympathised with Nell, the main character, and her unique position. The book moved along at a really fast pace, without ever feeling rushed or forced.
A great relationship between Nell and Billie and living on a boat on the Thames was also an interesting feature.
A really good read.

This was a slow start but it did not take too long before I was hooked and wanted to discover all the secrets. I loved Eleanor/Nell as she was so brave and kept herself to herself not worrying about her family and all the money that they had. She was also very moralistic and lived in an almost perfect worlds.
Great read which i highly recommend.

The Skeleton Key is the story of two dysfunctional families, the Churchers and the Lally's, the lies they have told and the secrets they have kept over decades of friendship.

The Golden Bones, written and illustrated by Frank Churcher is celebrating its 50th anniversary and all the family have been called back home to celebrate. Estranged daughter Nell is hoping it will finally put an end to her life mostly in hiding, due to the cultish nature of some of the fans of the book putting her in danger on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, all it does is uncover more lies and secrets that threaten to rip both families apart.

Written over multiple timelines, this is an intricately-woven mystery that builds gradually, setting the scenes and illustrateling the many characters beautifully. After the initial slow-burn start and feeling a little concerned about keeping track of all the characters, once you are drawn in, it is very difficult to put down!

I remember Masquerade and all the treasure hunt excitement atound it, so loved the premise of this book, and the first chapter really gripped me. Sadly, I then found it more difficult to follow the time lines and I did find it dragged at times with the character of Nell seeming to change quite unexpectedly towards the end.
Thank you to netgalley and hodder and Stoughton for an advance copy of this book

A strange thriller that took me a while to get used to. Not sure I fully appreciated it- it reminded me of fairytale mysteries.