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Skeleton in the Grass
Sara Causseley could not be more delighted by her new job as governess to the aristocratic Hallam clan. The children are adorable, the gardens are a dream, and the conversation stimulating. But ominous political clouds are gathering over Europe, and as England slips inexorably toward World War II, the Hallams' political views make the family increasingly unpopular. No one, though, suspects the extent of the malice that is percolating in the surrounding countryside until a human skeleton'and then a human corpse'are found on the Hallam grounds, sending some kind of ugly message.
215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
13 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Robert Barnard
202 books88 followersAka Bernard Bastable.
Robert Barnard (born 23 November 1936) was an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.
Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Colchester and at Balliol College in Oxford. His first crime novel, A Little Local Murder, was published in 1976. The novel was written while he was a lecturer at University of Tromsø in Norway. He has gone on to write more than 40 other books and numerous short stories.
Barnard has said that his favourite crime writer is Agatha Christie. In 1980 he published a critique of her work titled A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie.
Barnard was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2003 by the Crime Writers Association for a lifetime of achievement.
Under the pseudonym Bernard Bastable, Robert Barnard has published one standalone novel and three alternate history books starring Wolfgang Mozart as a detective, he having survived to old age.
Barnard lived with his wife Louise in Yorkshire.
Series:
* Perry Trethowan
* Charlie Peace
Robert Barnard (born 23 November 1936) was an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.
Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Colchester and at Balliol College in Oxford. His first crime novel, A Little Local Murder, was published in 1976. The novel was written while he was a lecturer at University of Tromsø in Norway. He has gone on to write more than 40 other books and numerous short stories.
Barnard has said that his favourite crime writer is Agatha Christie. In 1980 he published a critique of her work titled A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie.
Barnard was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2003 by the Crime Writers Association for a lifetime of achievement.
Under the pseudonym Bernard Bastable, Robert Barnard has published one standalone novel and three alternate history books starring Wolfgang Mozart as a detective, he having survived to old age.
Barnard lived with his wife Louise in Yorkshire.
Series:
* Perry Trethowan
* Charlie Peace
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
August 24, 2009
More social commentary than mystery, this is a short, intriguing portrait of life between the wars. Sarah Causeley comes to Hallam Park to be a governess for the youngest child of an aristocratic family of pacifists. She’s enchanted by their kindness and acceptance as well as by their intellectual conversations. It’s all gracious living, tea on the lawn, and lively discussions of philosophy and literature and politics.
The thing is, the real world hovers only vaguely outside the perimeter of Hallam Park. With a consciously well-bred effort the Hallams put up with tedious relatives and neighbors, but they have no interest in the locals and local matters. However, they can’t prevent ugly aspects of the outside world being thrust upon them (or else there’d be no story). One son enlists to fight in the Spanish Civil War – a big blow to the parents – and village lads wage a nasty campaign against the family. Their efforts are targeted mostly at Mr. Hallam, whose service in the Great War was suspect. Plus he gets sick at the sight of blood, and what sort of namby-pamby Englishman does that? Eventually one of the vicious pranks turns fatal...but how? And why??
There's a vivid contrast between the local yokels who are only too easily goaded into terrorizing Hallam Park ("just a bit o' fun") and the benign, clever Hallams. The story could easily become an example of Ignorant Masses versus Gentle Intellectuals, but it doesn’t go that route. As kind as the Hallams are to Sarah, they’re not terribly sympathetic, partly because their pacifist beliefs are particularly naïve and irresponsible considering what the neighboring nations were up to in 1936, and partly because intellectual snobbery is obnoxious even when it’s gracefully presented. For me the real mystery was not so much who done it, but whether Sarah was going to remain charmed by the family for the entire novel. Interesting story and good writing.
The thing is, the real world hovers only vaguely outside the perimeter of Hallam Park. With a consciously well-bred effort the Hallams put up with tedious relatives and neighbors, but they have no interest in the locals and local matters. However, they can’t prevent ugly aspects of the outside world being thrust upon them (or else there’d be no story). One son enlists to fight in the Spanish Civil War – a big blow to the parents – and village lads wage a nasty campaign against the family. Their efforts are targeted mostly at Mr. Hallam, whose service in the Great War was suspect. Plus he gets sick at the sight of blood, and what sort of namby-pamby Englishman does that? Eventually one of the vicious pranks turns fatal...but how? And why??
There's a vivid contrast between the local yokels who are only too easily goaded into terrorizing Hallam Park ("just a bit o' fun") and the benign, clever Hallams. The story could easily become an example of Ignorant Masses versus Gentle Intellectuals, but it doesn’t go that route. As kind as the Hallams are to Sarah, they’re not terribly sympathetic, partly because their pacifist beliefs are particularly naïve and irresponsible considering what the neighboring nations were up to in 1936, and partly because intellectual snobbery is obnoxious even when it’s gracefully presented. For me the real mystery was not so much who done it, but whether Sarah was going to remain charmed by the family for the entire novel. Interesting story and good writing.
February 4, 2019
This is a clever, literate mystery that also doubles as an observant little novel about the toxic nature of divergent ideological and political views. Framing the story from the perspective of two timeframes also adds to its appeal.
November 2, 2015
England, 1936. In the wake of growing unrest in Germany and the outbreak of civil war in Spain, the pacifists at Hallam House are disliked by the local villagers. Accusations of cowardice, in the form of brutal pranks, begin to surface around the Hallam estate. Until one prank goes too far.
This book is more about country life in 1930s England than it is about a mystery. But much to my surprise, I enjoyed reading about this slice-of-life historical fiction very much. If this book is available at your local library , I suggest you give it a try.
This book is more about country life in 1930s England than it is about a mystery. But much to my surprise, I enjoyed reading about this slice-of-life historical fiction very much. If this book is available at your local library , I suggest you give it a try.
May 13, 2017
Quoted on my book's cover: "Both a splendid mainstream novel and the best mystery of the year" - Time Magazine. I wouldn't class it as really a "best mystery" or as "mystery" for that matter. It certainly wasn't the "best mystery" that I've ever read. It was more of a story about an upper class family and Sarah, a small-town vicar's daughter, moving in to become governess, the tales of what's going on in real life in the 1930's/40's to make it feel more genuine, and the tales of the family with a mystery thrown in.
It was a decent enough short story of only 215 pages, and I enjoyed the writing. Sarah is telling the story many years later. There are short paragraphs thrown in, not too often of who she is today. It was done nicely that the reader didn't become confused.
The who done it, was a big surprise! I never saw it coming!
It was a decent enough short story of only 215 pages, and I enjoyed the writing. Sarah is telling the story many years later. There are short paragraphs thrown in, not too often of who she is today. It was done nicely that the reader didn't become confused.
The who done it, was a big surprise! I never saw it coming!
September 25, 2019
In the 1930s there were people in Britain who supported fascism, and some of them gathered regularly at Hallam, the country house owned by a family whose subsequent generations were much less involved in politics but no less insensitive to the lives of the people around them. At first Sarah Causeley is somewhat starstruck by the gracious hospitality shown to her as a recently hired governess to care for six-year-old Phoebe. But her upbringing as a village vicar's daughter makes her feel more at home with the working class folks, and leads to romance. Then a campaign of harassment ends in a murder which is never solved. We know this because there are frequent references to the "present" and how Sarah's opinions and feelings changed. Not his best, but interesting.
August 8, 2024
No witty remarks from an investigating policeman, but instead a compelling story about people living at the times the book is set it (mostly 1936). It centers on a young governess and the privileged family she is absorbed by. The death isn't really the important factor, it's mostly about people living in a situation that was remote from most people's experience. Barnard gives us hints about what is going to happen to some of the characters we've grown to care about, which I found an interesting plot device.
March 11, 2025
There is a dead body followed by a murder investigation in this story, eventually, but there was much more to this story. I really liked it. The story follows Sarah Causeley who has become a governess for a short time to Chloe Hallum. Most of the story takes place in 1936 starting just before Franco starts the civil war in Spain and ends shortly after George VI becomes King of England. World events have a big impact on the Hallam family while Sarah lives with them, but it is Sarah and her insights that story is mostly about.
August 13, 2021
The murder mystery in this novel is almost secondary. I was most interested in the meditations on this fascinating period in Britain between the wars. Pacifism, fascism, village politics, class clashes, the end of the era of the landed gentry, the abdication of King Edward, the looming specter of war - all were wrapped up in the story of Sarah’s stay with the Hallams. As a narrator, Sarah was insightful and honest. The glimpses into the future were reassuring, too.
September 29, 2025
Well, I appear to be in the minority here, but I found this book to be a bit of a slog. More a book about class differences, and less a country-house mystery. I had to power through this book, as I came for the mystery, but found the mystery to lack any real substance. I may have been spoiled by literate film mysteries, such as the “Knives Out” series, and classic works of the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie, but this just did not work for me.
July 12, 2023
A different sort of murder mystery that doesn't have much police procedure, dangerous drama or any chase scenes. The lives of the characters are interesting, evolving & explored through the telling of the nearly unsolved murder of a young man in a rural English setting making the telling more than a mystery. Excellent writing.
March 26, 2018
Pacifists leading up to the war
Well written with the interest of a historical novel. I very much enjoyed the tension in the storyline presented by the characters being pacifists leading up to the war.
Well written with the interest of a historical novel. I very much enjoyed the tension in the storyline presented by the characters being pacifists leading up to the war.
March 15, 2024
Nothing like a classic mystery writer. Robert Barnards books have a traditional murder. This one in an English manner. Intellectuals vs villagers. Pacifists vs Patriots. From the POV of a clergyman’s daughter/governess. A clearing of the brain after deeper fare.
May 2, 2019
One of the best Robert Barnard mysteries I've read. Set in 1936 with occasional views back on the era from the future by the protagonist. Manor house mystery at its best.
April 4, 2021
Interesting story
September 18, 2021
Terrific!
January 10, 2023
A five-star read finally dwindles to two. More here: https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...
April 7, 2023
A bit of a mystery buried within a short novel about life in the English countryside just before WWII.
The author was a professor of English and it shows ( in a good way ).
The author was a professor of English and it shows ( in a good way ).
December 29, 2023
A crime mystery with a touch of a novel blended into it! The book is well written with a fast-paced narration that encompasses various shifts of viewpoint along a highly fluid timeline.
July 14, 2012
I'm a little torn on this one. Barnard is a great writer and you can see the Agatha Christie influence on this one: the manor house, the village "types," the sympathetic detective, and, unfortunately, the playing fast-and-loose with time. I enjoyed the book although it creeps into the red zone on the Irony Meter.
Sarah becomes governess to a charming child of the engaging local upper-class Hallam family in a classic Tudor mansion, leaving her dysfunctional family behind. It seems too good to be true, and it all starts to break down when the body of a young man (as well as a fake skeleton) is found on the grounds.
Barnard tries to confuse us by moving back and forth in time, so that all we know is that Sarah has not only survived, but thrived. However, she is one of the few. The murder, though, takes place during the early months of the Spanish Civil War (ca. 1936) and the denouement during the Blitz, in 1941, barely 5 years later. In fact, the perpetrator confessed in 1939. This is hardly "old history" for a murder case and I doubt any police detective would just say, "Oh, you've suffered enough and it was really only an accident." That's for a court to decide.
Agatha Christie would have written something fiendish that tracked down a murder committed even in the distant past! But she also strained credulity - notably in her play "The Mousetrap." The murderer is too old to have been the student of one of the other characters who is too young - unless the teacher retired after teaching one year and the murderer was 18. I've seen two - thirty year olds playing these respective parts. Well, heck! No wonder no one can guess the ending (unless they've seen Stoppard's send-up: "The Real Inspector Hound").
[Side note: I've performed in both of these shows, always as a character 20-30 years older than I was at the time, so I'm not quibbling about the age of actors.]
Sarah becomes governess to a charming child of the engaging local upper-class Hallam family in a classic Tudor mansion, leaving her dysfunctional family behind. It seems too good to be true, and it all starts to break down when the body of a young man (as well as a fake skeleton) is found on the grounds.
Barnard tries to confuse us by moving back and forth in time, so that all we know is that Sarah has not only survived, but thrived. However, she is one of the few. The murder, though, takes place during the early months of the Spanish Civil War (ca. 1936) and the denouement during the Blitz, in 1941, barely 5 years later. In fact, the perpetrator confessed in 1939. This is hardly "old history" for a murder case and I doubt any police detective would just say, "Oh, you've suffered enough and it was really only an accident." That's for a court to decide.
Agatha Christie would have written something fiendish that tracked down a murder committed even in the distant past! But she also strained credulity - notably in her play "The Mousetrap." The murderer is too old to have been the student of one of the other characters who is too young - unless the teacher retired after teaching one year and the murderer was 18. I've seen two - thirty year olds playing these respective parts. Well, heck! No wonder no one can guess the ending (unless they've seen Stoppard's send-up: "The Real Inspector Hound").
[Side note: I've performed in both of these shows, always as a character 20-30 years older than I was at the time, so I'm not quibbling about the age of actors.]
December 5, 2016
1936 Britain, with its class divisions, envy, and power struggles among the elite. The titled family has a very liberal man who writes for papers calling for the end to war. WWI has left them with a passion for the League of Nations. There is an ex-military man with fascist leanings encouraging the yeoman teenagers in the village to shock and disgust this family with 'pranks'. One day the prank backfires and a teen is killed but no one knows who did it. The mystery is viewed from the eyes of the titled family's governess who is escaping her cold grim parson father and submissive mother. Barnard slips glimpses of the post-WWII future into the book with meet ups between characters to reveal their adult marriages, careers, and travels. Short and skillfully written. Completely believable motive for murder.
May 21, 2014
Mystery set in 1936 with 20 year old rector;s daughter Sarah Causeley starting to work as a governess for the Hallam family's six year old daughter. The Hallams are the aristocratic family for a rural area whose parents are pacifists as Europe and Britain moves towards WW II. The head of the family becomes the targets of various village pranks portraying him as a coward. One of the pranksters is killed resulting in increasing village hostility towards the family.
The story is told by Sarah with jumps to the 1950's and '60's with Sarah reflecting back on the events. Those jumps are bit concerting. On the whole, a very good story with a focus upon the disconnect between the Hallams and the villagers.
The story is told by Sarah with jumps to the 1950's and '60's with Sarah reflecting back on the events. Those jumps are bit concerting. On the whole, a very good story with a focus upon the disconnect between the Hallams and the villagers.
August 31, 2015
Robert Barnard has always been one of my favorite British mystery writers. He wrote two types: first, the humorous, satirical cozy and second, the type of book this is, a more serious suspenseful novel with a political edge. I generally prefer his lighter books because he does humor so well, but this novel concerning the British gentry between the wars as seen through the eyes of a young governess, was very well done. It's also an examination of conscientious objection and how it affected the members of a particular family. I did not foresee the murderer's identity until the end so Barnard's ability to fool the reader shines through once again just as the writer he admired and analyzed in his tribute to her, "A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie."
November 3, 2009
"Skeleton in the Grass" is a mystery in same way that "Atonement" is a mystery. That is, it's a very good novel with some suspenseful elements. Barnard is one of my favorite authors, because when he's at his best, as he is here, his work is terrific. This is a mooving story about convictions, class, and conscience in the time between the World Wars. Most highly recommended to anyone who loves this period or who admired "Atonemenent".
July 14, 2012
This was an ok read. Not too much suspence. The main character, Sarah, feels a lot of tension in the country home where she has been accepted as part of the fancy famiily. What I did like was the way that the future Sarah told a bit of the story as a flashback type story telling. Different perspective.
February 16, 2013
This did remind me of Out of the Blackout, in the best possible way. Like that book, this one has a mystery; it even has a murder. But it's also a slice of a certain time and kind of life, and it's what Barnard does with that that makes the book. He gets a lot across in not much real estate.
March 4, 2009
Sarah is hired as a governess at Hallam House. A series of pranks is played on the residents of the hous ebecause they are pacifists. Then while pulling off a parnk one of the local boys is killed on the lawn of the house.
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May 17, 2012read over a third of the book and the only things that have died in the story are a dog, a chicken and Sarah's mom...only to establish her freedom from her father not by foul play!!! Too many other books to read!!!!
January 16, 2008
Quick, light fun read. Good ambiance but not very fully developed.
April 18, 2009
Well written mystery
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews