The Skeleton Key set in London – Erin Kelly

Submitted: 22nd August 2022

Skeleton Keys and Literary treasure hunts

Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore…..

Now the book is being republished….with extra clues as to the final set of bones….

BookTrail Travel to the locations in The Skeleton Key

Boarding Pass Information: The Skeleton Key

Destination : England

Author guide: Erin Kelly

Genre:thriller

Food and drink to accompany: Lamb on the bone

@thebooktrailer

#Bookreview

Erin Kelly writes at the start of the book of her inspiration for the novel and that really got me interested. No spoilers here but it’s a great idea and one I thought she wrote about brilliantly.

This is not just a literary treasure hunt when a book is published and people look for clues in locations around the country. It’s also a book about a very dysfunction family and one about power and obsession.

The Golden Bones was a book containing clues to the location of bones made of solid gold. Not surprisingly readers became followers and some of them became obsessed with finding the clues and bones. It became a worldwide phenomenon in the 1970s. Now, the book is celebrating its 50th anniversary and a revival of that treasure hunt. However, it all goes very wrong indeed…

BookTrail Travel to the locations in The Skeleton Key

I thought this was going to be a straight forward treasure hunt but I may have underestimated Ms Kelly as this is so much more than that. We see how people become so obsessed with the search for clues and the harrassment the author and their family go through. The obsession of some of the readers was just mindblowing.

With this not being a straightforward story there are many subplots and whilst these were very good for the most part, I did feel the book got a bit lost half way through. Never mind, it picks up again and then BOOM the ending. Well played Ms Kelly!

A lof of surprises with this book but it’s a twisty one with a twist in its already twistly tale.