- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; New edition edition (2 Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007121369
- ISBN-13: 978-0007121366
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,295,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Robert Barnard is always original, never repeats himself and has a delectable wit’
Jessica Mann, Daily Telegraph
‘Barnard never disappoints. The psychological suspense is chilling’
The Times
‘Robert Barnard retails this finely suspenseful tale, incorporating the Hitchockian awkwardness of disposing of a body, with spellbinding step-by-step matter-of-factness’
Sunday Times
Product Description
Latest in Robert Barnard’s hugely popular Charlie Peace series: ‘He plots a mystery as well as any writer alive’ Time Magazine
Moving into an upmarket new home in Leeds, rising radio star Matt Harper is shocked to find the skeleton of a small child in the attic. His grisly discovery takes him back to the summer of 1969, when he lived with his aunt only a few streets away, reawakening dim, vaguely disturbing memories from his childhood.
While Detective Charlie Peace heads up the nominal police investigation into the bones, Matt’s unease leads him to revisit the past in an attempt to solve the mystery himself. Tracking down the other members of a gang of local children he’d briefly belonged to, he gradually unearths a shared secret that has laid buried ever since. Everyone remembers little Lily Fitch’s meetings with her older ‘friend’, and the hippy couple’s baby she wanted to rescue, but Matt can’t help feeling there’s something else they’re holding back. Were the bones in the attic the result of a tragic accident, or has time concealed a more sinister truth?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Intriguing read,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Bones in the Attic (Paperback)
This book took a little while to get going but when it did it gripped you and you felt you just had to know what really happened to the child in the attic. The book was at its most fascinating in the flashbacks, they really drew you in and made you long to know the truth. I would recommend this book very highly.Well done Mr.Barnard!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Workmanlike mystery with a familiar theme.,
By E. Bukowsky "booklover10" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bones in the Attic, the (Hardcover)
An old skeleton lies buried in the attic of a house, where it has been undisturbed for thirty years. Who is the victim? Why was he/she left there instead of receiving a proper burial?These are some of the questions plaguing Matthew Harper, the protagonist of Robert Barnard's new mystery, "The Bones in the Attic." Matt is a former footballer turned broadcaster, who has just purchased a new house named "Elderholm" for himself and his new family. Matt is minding his partner's three children while she is away, and he finds the skeleton of a murdered baby while poking around in the attic of his new home. It turns out that in 1969, there were some suspicious goings-on in the neighborhood. To make matters more interesting, as a seven-year-old boy, Matt had stayed in his Aunt Hettie's house for a time, and he played football (soccer) with the children in this very neighborhood. He begins to remember bits and pieces about the friends with whom he played during that fateful year. Barnard is using a plot device that has been used by many other mystery writers. What happens when an old murder suddenly comes to light and long buried secrets are unearthed? Is the murderer still alive and will he or she ever be brought to trial for a thirty-year-old crime? Who will care about a crime that occurred so long ago? As it turns out, Matt cares very much. In addition to his duties as a surrogate father and as a broadcaster, Matt makes it his business to investigate the murder. He joins forces with Detective Sergeant Charlie Peace, who amazingly gives Matt carte blanche to behave like a latter-day Sherlock Holmes. It turns out that Matt has an uncanny talent for investigative work and he and Sergeant Peace manage to locate many of the principles who lived near Elderholm. Between them, they piece together the various elements that contributed to the death of that baby so many years ago. Barnard's book is nicely written. Matt is a likeable, intelligent and sympathetic character and the mystery is intriguing enough, although the solution is not particularly believable. "The Bones in the Attic" is a reminder that the deep, dark secrets that we think are buried in our past sometimes come back to haunt us in later life. 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
intriguing investigative tale,
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bones in the Attic, the (Hardcover)
Matt Harper is a minor celebrity in England because of his past professional soccer playing and his present day work as a media sports commentator. While his significant other is in South Africa taking care of her ailing husband, Matt is nurturing and watching over her three children. In fact, the four of them plan to move into Elderholm and decorate much of it before Aileen returns.Before Matt sets a moving date, he and the decorator make a grisly discovery in the attic. They find the whole skeletal remains of a very young child lying in the corner of the room as if somebody put it there and forgot about it. Matt calls in the police but since the crime happened in 1969 it is not a high priority case. Since Matt knew most of the children in the area during that summer he begins investigating and discovers a conspiracy of gigantic proportions. The protagonist of THE BONES IN THE ATTIC is a good sensitive man eagerly taking care of three children not his own while their mother is away taking care of their father. Readers will get caught up in Matt's investigation of why the child died and was left up in the attic and hope he gets some answers quickly. The investigation is believable and the answers will more than satisfy the audience. Harriet Klausner 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Enjoyable Mystery,
By Elizabeth Hendry - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bones in the Attic, the (Hardcover)
Robert Barnard's Bones in the Attic is an enjoyable mystery, a quick read to sink into when you've got a few hours to kill. The story of a discovery of a child's bones in an attic and the unraveling of the mystery behind them that follows is certainly nothing unique here. While this probably won't be a book you rush out and tell everyone about, it certainly is a pleasant read.
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