Such a unique set up for a book, I don’t thing I have read one like this before.

A lot of work has gone into the plot to make is so unique. Praise to Erin Kelly for this.

If you love twists and turns this one is for you

The premise of this is fascinating and really clever - a dysfunctional family with the backstory of a treasure hunt book. I loved the world-building. The characters felt so real and the setting is fantastic. This was my first Erin Kelly book. I hadn't realised what a good writer she was!

It captured me from the very first page and continued to draw me in throughout it's entirety. I savored reading it because I didn't want it to end. There are a lot of characters and a lot going on but all weaves together into a really good plot - did not expect the ending - Thoroughly enjoyed it !

The Skeleton Key is full of myths, mysteries, family secrets and quirky characters.


Not my favourite Erin Kelly book, but one I believe many others will really enjoy.


The story is based around a treasure hunt and set across different timelines. It’s a story within a story.


I had never heard of the original treasure hunt sensation that Erin Kelly took her inspiration from, but I loved the detail given about it in her authors note and couldn’t wait to look it up for myself. Fascinating piece of history and made reading “The Skeleton Key” that little bit more special.


3 Stars – A Magical Read With A Nod To Past History!


Publication Date: 1st September 2022


Thank you to #NetGalley, #HodderandStoughton and #ErinKelly for an ARC of #TheSkeletonKey in exchange for an honest review.

I love the way Erin Kelly writes and this book was no exception. It was wonderfully written and I really enjoyed it. Her thrillers are always so fun and twisty and they just always manage to grip me. Such a great book.

I have heard so many good things about The Skeleton Key that I decided that I had to find out for myself and I am so glad that I did. This is a book that packs in so much mystery, that the reader gets one hell of a ride from start to finish.
Nell Churcher has been hounded by the book The Golden Bones written by her father all her life so it was with some hesitation she returned home for the 50th celebrations where the hunt for the final piece of Elinore. With the “Bonehunters” back out in force it was always going to be questionable if everything was going to go to plan, but nobody expected what actually happened.
The Churchers and the Lallys are a close group. They live next door to each other and two of the children even married. On the face of it the friendship seems very close but in reality there are secrets and lies that always bubble under the surface that over the course of the book are revealed to the reader and the realities of what tie them together are not quite as nice as you would expect and you could only describe the relationships as totally toxic.
The book flits between the past and the present which I love as it always seems to make the story move quickly. I like dipping in and out of the backstory as it explains the events of the present perfectly. I loved the characters (even the ones that really didn’t have any redeeming qualities). The self-centeredness of Frank Churcher was believable to the point that you wondered why his family stuck with him and put up with his behaviour. The more I read the more I understood why Nell had distanced herself from them all and the baggage they brought with them even if it looked like it may cost her the one thing she truly wanted.
I will admit that I didn’t want to put this book down and resented every single interruption from my family. As the truth was revealed and just how many people had a hand in the outcome was a surprise although when you get to know each character and the lengths they will go to in order to protect themselves maybe it shouldn’t be. The Skeleton Key has got to be one of my favourite books so far this year and was just the different kind of book from what I have been reading that I needed.

Taking the Golden Hare, a treasure hunt book, as inspiration, Erin Kelly weaves a story around the lives of the family of an author/artist who has written such a book. The fallout is catastrophic in particular for the, Eleanor, the daughter named after the hidden artefact.
The concept is clever, and and the human issues developed are intriguing. The heroine, Eleanor, is too self absorbed, and the plotting is lazy. She doesn't act rationally with the information as it's presented, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to believe that she was irrational for emotional reasons, or if it was just lazy. I found it very frustrating,
Generally. however, a very unexpected plot development.

Packed with mystery, an undulating tension and characters who were not always likeable, let alone trustworthy, it captured my imagination and my attention from the very opening scenes and did not let go. I loved the suspense that fed through this book, the constant feeling of the truth being just out of reach. The depiction of the kinds of obsession and addiction, both healthy and otherwise, that fed the long term readers and fans of the book, as well as those at the heart of its creation, had a real ring of authenticity.

I really enjoyed this book! There is a lot going on at points but I think it was really well written so you didn’t get lost in the story! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nell has come home at her family's insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Fifty years ago, Sir Frank Churcher wrote The Golden Bones. A picture book that was also a treasure hunt. A fairy story about a murdered woman Elinore whose skeleton bones were scattered all over England. The treasure hunt involved finding seven tiny golden bones hidden around the country.

The book was a sensation, creating a community of treasure hunters known as Bonehunters. Leading to competition, obsessive fans and dangerous situations. Frank became very wealthy from the book, but his family suffered. When only one bone remained missing, an obsessed Bonehunter attacked Frank's daughter, Nell. The stalker is convinced Nell's pelvis bone was the missing part of Elinore's skeleton.

Nell lived as a recluse, estranged from her family, not waiting for any part of their wealth. But now, on the 50th anniversary of the book's release, The Golden Bones is republished. To celebrate, members of the Churcher family reunited, and Nell must return home.

This book, moves between several timelines, 1969 when Frank devised the idea for The Golden Bones. Nell's attacked in the 1990s, and 2021 the celebration of the book's release. Each timeline is intertwined to lay out the mystery. This story is filled with puzzles as you get to know the disfunctional Churcher family, you discover each of them has their own secrets and mysteries.

A family inextricably tied to a treasure hunt in a book - a tale of fair Elinore, murdered and her skeleton scattered throughout England, with clues in the book leading to where tiny golden bones were buried across the country. However, it also led to a community of fanatic treasure hunters called Bonehunters, many of whom could not separate fact from fiction, and who put our protagonist, Nell Churcher, at risk.

I found the switching between years and dates rather difficult to follow - it jumped around a lot, though I can recognise the value in additional context between chapters. I thought the story was less thriller than family drama, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it (I do love a bit of gossip!) and while the narrative was adventurous, it was not beyond the realm of possibility - with Nell's daily life and its setting on the canals in London evidently well researched and 'very normal'.

I would recommend this book, but at 728 pages it is a definite undertaking, something that isn't always evident on an e-reader! I'm going to give it 3.5 stars, rounded to 4. If the timeline had been easier to follow it would have been 4 straight up - however, this is obviously just my opinion!

My thanks to NetGalley, Erin Kelly and Hodder for the e-copy of The Skeleton Key in exchange for an honest review.

This book started out so well. I thought we were going to be immersed in a journey to find the missing bone. That we were going to journey around the world looking for the missing bone, but no, the plot took a different turn and the Skeleton Key became the sub-plot to a totally different book.

Not sure this one was for me but if you like twisty family drama and lies and deceit, this would be the book for you.

Did not finish.

I was really excited about the premise of this book, but the plot was so slow.
I feel the book could have been have the size and not lost any of the suspension/buils up.

The story was more about the dynamics between the two families, than the quest for Elinore's skeleton.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. An interesting premise and well written. This was a very enjoyable read.

3.5 stars

After absolutely loving Watch her fall, I was looking forward to another book by Erin Kelly. This one, althought very well written, sadly fell short of my expectations.

It is classed as a thriller, but I'm not sure that's how I would describe it. It's more of a historical family drama with hints of mystery here and there, but it isn't a read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is quite slow in unfolding the story and quite tedious in some parts. I think the downside for me was the length, with not much happening I really just wanted it to wrap it up, to understand what was all about.

That said, I think Kelly is a very skilled writer and I will be reading more from her; unfortunately this didn't quite do it for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced reading copy.

The Skeleton Key is such an eclectic mix of amazing styles, stories and mysteries. It's a contemporary thriller, but with so many layers that echo the literary greats. I felt ghosts of AS Byatt and John Fowles rubbing shoulders with Lisa Jewell and Janice Hallett. Highly recommended!

Wow what a fantastic book with twists and turns all over the place such a good book I would definitely recommend it

Well written and structured, this novel was not quite what I expected. I was drawn in by the cover, and the promise of a historical mystery centered around a book, but stayed for the rich description of a dysfunctional family. If you're interested in unconventional upbringings, this novel may be for you, If you're looking for a book, in love with books, you may disappointed as the narrators dislike (artfully) bleeds through. I finished the novel, primarily for the subplot, but deeply appreciative of the deftly handled time-transitions.

I wanted to like this book, but I found it quite hard to get into the story. . A clever concept around missing treasure, loosely aligned to Masquerade. The story has lots of twists, some wonderfully complex characters, and two very dysfunctional families . I could really understand how fanatical some people can become around hidden treasures, the hunt and how far some people will go.

It took a while to get into this one and I found it a bit far fetched at times, not a believable mystery in many ways.