Customer Reviews

The Bones in the Attic

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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.

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

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.

After a child's skeleton is found in the attic of Matt Harper, who has just bought into a neighborhood in Leeds, England after living there briefly as a boy, he shadows the investigation by a well-meaning detective sergeant who has a baby of his own, and delves back into his brief past in the neighborhood, which coincides with the approximate death of the infant in his attic. This means reconnecting with the neighborhood children, now adults, and forcing some organization on his hazy memories. He knows he feels unsettled and discomfited by that particular time, but can't quite grasp why.

I've never read Mr. Barnard before this book, but judging by the size of his name on the cover relative to the title, he must be terribly well known. This was an interesting book with a little bit of a muddled end, but it was well written otherwise and I plan to read him again. It would give away too much to say why I felt the end was muddled, but one key explanation didn't hold up for me. Nonetheless, it wasn't THE key explanation and so the story was hardly ruined. And maybe I'm just being picky. One thing I can say about Mr. Barnard's writing is that he does dialogue very, very well. I especially liked the way the children were written and the way he captured their banter.

A note of relief: there are many, many names and places to keep straight. In the hardcover, and hopefully the paperback as well, there is a map of the neighborhood. It really helps.

Interesting tale with good characterization, nicely plotted, excellent feel of time and place but does not deliver an ending worthy of the trip. This is the first Barnard book that has been a let down, and I have read most of his novels.

If you are looking for a GREAT Barnard read, I suggest you try "Fatal Attachments". It is an older book but worth your time and trouble.

I like Barnard for cozy stuff. This reminded a little of Ruth Rendell's "Fatal Inversion", with a little twist at the end, and then another half-twist. Great rainy-day stuff.

Matt Harper has a lot on his plate. He's just bought a new house in Leeds (Robert Barnard's home town) and he's looking after his partner's children while she is abroad looking after their seriously ill father. So right away we have one of Barnard's apparently-dysfunctional-but-making-a-go-of-it families and the children are well portrayed. As is the family dog, Beckham, named we assume after MLS Galaxy player David Beckham. Barnard is clearly a football fan (soccer here in the US) and Matt himself is a former professional player. As the narrator Matt gets to make cracks like "Beckham was in an ecstasy of sniffing and leg lifting, the two things intimately connected," and we deduce that Becks is perhaps not his favorite football player.

Matt is now a commentator on a local radio station and his minor-celebrity status comes in handy when he discovers a child's bones in the attic of the new house and starts to investigate. With the help of Charlie Peace (one of Barnard's police regulars), it's established that the bones were probably deposited in 1969. In the first of several plot twists, it turns out that Matt himself was visiting an aunt in the neighborhood in the summer of '69 and playing football with the children who lived on that street. Another of Barnard's favorite themes, what we choose to remember and forget, and how events that we've tried to obliterate influence our later lives, is delicately probed throughout. And we get some great insights into the workings of the local radio station and the personalities who work there.

This is classic Barnard: like a good soccer match, the pace is fast and smooth. There are plenty of characters but (unlike The Killings on Jubilee Terrace: A Novel of Suspense) not so many that it's hard to sort them out. The plot twists keep coming as you root for Matt to sort out the mystery and keep his family together. More like this one please, Mr. Barnard!

Long forgotten summer 1969 in Leeds haunts a lot of people, after the bones of a small child are found in the attic of a newly bought house.Tragic event from 30 years ago forever scarred a group of people.When the new owner of the house, Matt Harper decides to investigate, past becomes alive again.
Robert Barnard is well known for his fairly short books with logical puzzles and sharp wit.He is one of the last old-fashioned Brittish writers who plays by the rules of detection. This lovely book wae a great pleasure.

Barnard,in my opinion ,is not a top echelon crime writer but he can be relied on for solid,well crafted mysteries and he shows a great deal of versatility as to setting and characters.
This takes place in contemporary Leeds ,in Yorkshire,and the protagonist is Matt Harper,former pro soccer player turned local radio pundit and front man on a local TV news show.He is about to move into a new house with his partner and her two children by a former marriage when he discovers the bones of a child in the attic.The child had been dead for some time and the local police are unable to allocate major resources to resolving the mystery.A symathetic black policeman,Charlie Peace(who has figured in other Barnard tales)feeds Harper information assuming correctly that he will be driven to devote time and energy to the case for personal reasons.This is because the case dates back to the late 60's when Harper was briefly resident in the area and has some vague recollections of knowing some of the people who may have been involved .
patiently he sets about tracing the children with whom he played back then and finds they have all to some extenyt been affected by memories of what transpired that summmer,The baby had died through the agency of one of these children and the malign influence of an "offstage" adult
The book is interesting rather than gripping and this sis the gap between an author who is purchased and one who is borrowed from the local library.
I will happlily give my time to Mr Barnard-for his neat plots ,effective characterisation and quiet compassionate social observation.I am reluctant to part with my sheckels for someone who does not-and he does not--move me at a level other than the cerebral.

Good fare if you like Britsh mysteries with a foot in the modern ,but not seamy,,world

This book dealt more with the narrators state of mind than with the actual mystery. I realize the hero gets involved in uncovering the truth because of where the "body" was found, but I was very bored by his thought process. The main character was boring, and lacked any sense of humor. I didn't get a warm feeling from his interaction with other characters in the book, and that made his search for the truth unbelievable to me. And I hate unmentioned characters who show up at the end! This is not a plot twist, it's just the authors way of "stumping" the reader.
This isn't a bad book. I just wouldn't classify this as a mystery.