The Bones In The Attic

Charlie Peace #8

by Robert Barnard

The discovery of a child's skeleton that is at least thirty years old in the attic of the old stone house he has just purchased leads Matt Harper on a journey into the past to solve the mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, British Literature, Mystery Thriller

271 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2002

About the author

Aka 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

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barnard's books always have pleasant characters and interesting plots; this one was a little different because his series police detective, Charlie Peace, was not the one doing the detecting. Good for readers looking for a mystery in between a cozy and something slightly darker.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf at Page 88. It was just so boring.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little odd for a series there wasn't much of Charlie Peace in this book (though I haven't read any others of the series and this might be the norm of the series). Instead it was told in the person of former footballer now radio personality who finds the body of a small child in the attic of his newly purchased house. When the police show little interest in vigorously pursuing a case with little evidence of a suspicious death that happened probably 30 years before, Matt takes it onto himself to further investigate. He had visited the area as a child of seven and wonders if any of his memories might hold a clue. After a few requests for information are aired on the radio he receives an anonymous letter reassuring Matt that he had nothing to do with it and it happened the day after he left. Delving further into his memories and tracking down his playmates from that summer, Matt is determined to find out what happened to this little girl and why no one had ever reported her missing.

Matt's investigation as an amateur detective is not just a gratuitous poking his noise where it doesn't belong but a personal quest because he found the body in his home and the police do not seem motivated to pursue the case. His own past gives him a possible avenue of investigation to pursue that the police don't or wouldn't anyway choice to follow. It seems to be a better excuse to investigate than some cozy mysteries that I have read recently.

I like Matt. He has a caring and realistic unsure relationship with his partner's children while she is often nursing their father for an indefinite period of time. His dislike and like of certain characters doesn't seem manufactured. He is a well-crafted ordinary man that would reasonable pursue this case.

If this writer is able to create other characters of such good qualities I will look forward to reading more of his novels.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man purchases a house and, during the exploration of the attic, he discovers the skeleton of a very small child. This sets off a personal investigation into the circumstances of the child's death some 30 years earlier.

This was my second Barnard book read and I enjoyed it immensely. Unlike the previous novel read (which was a recollection of life in the English countryside prior to and during WWII with a murder thrown in), this book followed a much more conventional plot line. Through dogged determination and numerous interviews, our hero is bent on establishing the who, what, where, when, how and why of the child's demise.

I finished the book in a day. I recommend it.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up because of the title. It was pretty good. It's about Matt Harper, a tv and radio personality. He purchases a house for himself, his partner and her three children. They find the bones of a young child in the attic. Matt remembers that he lived in this neighborhood one summer, with his aunt. The forensic team believes that the bones have been there for 30 years and that was when Matt lived there. He begins looking up the children (now adults) that he remembers from that time. No small child was ever reported missing in that neighborhood, not that Matt remembers. Maybe some of the other children saw or knew something. Solving the mystery doesn't mean bringing a killer to justice. Some of the children from that time are also dead. But, it brings Matt closure. Charlie Peace is the Detective Sergeant who Matt works with to solve a mystery that the police feel will never be solved.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no doubt that Robert Barnard writes a good puzzle, and "The Bones in the Attic" is a good example. Essentially, it is the story of several adults who were childhood friends and who are plagued by a shared event - the death of a young baby or toddler in the summer of 1969 in Armley which is a suburban area of Leeds, UK. The bones are found in the attic of one of the houses on Houghton Avenue. Barnard teases out the story bit by bit and eventually the truth unfolds. This was a nice read but the ending felt very deus ex machine and somewhat disappointing. What was better was the setting - Armley and/or Leeds do not get featured in books very often and Armley's an interesting place which erupted because of the great Industrial Revolution in the Midlands. The geography plays an important role in this book, and I enjoyed the accompanying drawing which helped with the plot.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bones in the Attic is based on a series, but this was the first book in the series that I read. I do not believe it will matter if you read these books out of order. Matt Harper is the main character in the book. He was a professional soccer player and now he is a television and radio personality. As he and his decorator were walking around his newly purchased home, a skeleton of a child is found in the attic and the search to find out what happened begins. At first I thought I would really enjoy this book, but as the story kept replaying similar scenarios, it became a book that I wanted to get through. For me, the story never really went anywhere and I am happy to move on to a new book.

[Bill Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so absorbed in this mystery, I was not thinking about what I wanted to write. Matt Harper, a former professional soccer (football) player buys a house in a neighborhood near where his aunt lived and where he had spent a summer. In touring the house with the interior decorator, they come across the skeleton of a child in the attic. Although this in the Charlie Peace series, it is Matt who does most of the work to determine whose body it is and how it got into the attic. The story, what happened to the child whose bones were found and the kids Matt had played with that summer, was rather sad. But the book was good.

[Ken Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise for a book that could have been a little more exciting. Just couldn't get enough traction going to keep moving with this book. It was up and down with it throughout the last month until I forced myself to finish it this afternoon. The characters were not specifically "likable", and this is part of a Detective Sergeant Charlie Peace series in which Charlie Peace was not the investigator and just popped in and out throughout the book. First book I've read of Barnard -- had the feelings of a typical British cozy mystery with a tad bit of darkness.

[Marcia Lengnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the fact that this book was in the NYT Best Books of the Year 2002, at least that's what it said on the back on another Barnard mystery.
I didn't finish that one BUT this was was very well written, great book for Bk Club discussion and the story of a group of adults still haunted by a tragic event that happen in their shared past..

[Carolynn Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really only mildly captured my interest, I regret to say. I liked Matt's character and his sleuthing process, but I would have expected to be more riveted--especially when presented with the premise--finding the skeleton of a small child in the attic of your recently-bought home. Alas! Not so much.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I realized I was only halfway through this book and I was bored silly and didn't really CARE why the skeleton of a baby was found in the attic of the protagonist's new house, I decided to move on. This book REALLY dragged!

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been years since I first read any of Robert Barnard’s Charlie Peace mysteries. This one doesn’t have a lot of Charlie in it, but it’s an interesting look at memory and childhood, among other things. Barnard’s prose is, as always, wonderful to read and the story and characters are engaging.

[Brucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinary, plodding, mostly coincidental rather than mysterious, characters are not interesting. Well written, of course.

[Athena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in high school and finally figured out the name so I can add it here. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and thought the character's personal ties to the mystery made it interesting.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Malini Espeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid story with good twists. Gets a bit lengthy towards the end though.

[Gowri N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second Barnard after 'Death of a Mystery Writer's and I enjoyed this just as much. It

[Janneke Klerk · Rating 3 out of 5]

glad to have found a -to me unknown - author that writes a good mystery. can't wait to explore his other books. only thing I did not like that one of the characters, the mother of the killed baby, was not dealt with at all. the father gets dealt with, but not the mother. is that because the author is a man?

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

24 apr 15, 1st from barnard for me...has this interesting line on the first page...or lines:
"the man nodded. he was used to all kinds of permutations and variations. in fact, he often reckoned the decline of the stable family had been wonderful for his business."

that and allow millions of illegal aliens to phone home and tell their friends, come on in, the water is fine. i'm a builder, too...like "the man" who nodded...and yeah, i can see that. that...and zoning laws that disallow more than one unrelated to a bedroom...boom boom boom boom...as the blues singer winged it. or was it, ho ho ho ho!
santa clause...either or.
onward upward

26 apr 15
update, finished. good story. assuming you read the description, the story fulfills what is said about it. a mystery. tragedy. we learn who did what to whom. i imagine it is the fatal flaw of the genre that stories such as this fall prey to the accusation they were plotted beforehand...reason for the 3-stars...call it 3.85 if you want...still an enjoyable read, tragedy as noted, completely believable. but in the telling of the bones, the story also neglects to delve too deeply into the tragedy of the lives of the others in the story...can't help but know that this story would have been much longer...and probably most likely even better, had it done so.

first from barnard, noted above, and i'd read more if i happen across more. onward upward.

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 2 out of 5]

After quite a serious read - Julio Cortazar's stories - I was in the mood for something very light and inconsequential, a literary trifle. Robert Barnard comes to the rescue in such moments. His "The Bones in the Attic" has delivered exactly what I needed - a fast and rather pleasant read that has not taxed my brain or affected my emotions.

Matt Harper, an ex-footballer (it is a British book so 'football' rightly refers to the sport where the ball is touched only by players' feet) and a local radio and TV celebrity buys a house in Leeds, where he finds the skeleton of a child in the attic. The police are notified, but being busy with more important, current cases, they just help Matt conduct his own investigation.

In a cosmically improbable coincidence it turns out that Matt was in the exact same area in Leeds at the exact time that the bones date to. He begins reminiscing the summer of '69, when he was seven years old and played football with a group of a bit older kids. It soon becomes clear that they are somehow connected with the case.

I envy Matt the ability of remembering faces and conversations from 30 years ago. I wish I remembered what happened this morning. I liked reading the book, but I do not think it is a particularly good one.

Two and a quarter stars.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Barnard often focuses on an ordinary person trying to make sense of something and doing a pretty good job of it. Charlie Peace appears in this novel, but more as an adviser to the main character, Matt Harper, who has found the skeleton of a toddler in the attic of a house he has just bought. Not the first time that Barnard has focused on an assortment of people living in close proximity to each other. Matt is just meeting his new neighbors, none of whom lived on Houghton Avenue at the time the body was deposited there, but he finds that his celebrity as a retired footballer and a radio and television personality opens doors for him as he tracks down the people who would have been living there in 1969, the probable date of the child's death.

3/25: this mystery is just as chilling on a second read. I could see Matt and Charlie becoming mates.

[Lansing Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

The discovery of a child’s skeleton in the attic of an old home recently purchased by TV personality Matt Harper leads him on a search into his past where he finds clues to the murderer.

The reading group rated this book 5.

Everyone liked the book. They all agreed that it was a good story that flowed and that made it a fast read. They were all surprised at the ending. They did think that there were some inconsistencies and that there were too many characters. They couldn’t understand how this group of children could hide the secret of the baby’s death for so long.

[Gail DiVico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit it took me a while to really get into this book, almost half-way through, but something kept me reading on. When I reached mid-way, it really caught my interest, and I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. At that point, it was an enjoyable read, certainly a good choice for the Halloween season. The characters seemed real, and the story, well, a little hard to believe, but could happen. I would actually rate this book a 3.5 but rating system didn't allow that. I would definitely read something else by this author in the future.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barnard can make characters come alive in the most moving way. The main character in this story is a likable, caring man who is confronted with a mysterious happening that is periperally connected with his childhood. While the character development is fine and engaging, the plot sags; I skipped about 100 pages in the middle: just too boring. Barnard is very uneven but worth taking a chance on every now and then.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matt is a retired footballer turned radio journalist. He has bought an old stone terrace house in Leeds. As he begins to inspect the house to determine how the house could be renovated, a small skeleton is found hidden in the attic. He is determined to find out what happened to the tiny child and with the help of a local detective he sets out to determine the person responsible for her death.

[Travis Alford · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I love about Barnard's writing is its subtleties. Whereas most american mystery novels hit you over the head with the "in your face" details of the story - often with over-the-top gore, ludicrous plots, and relentless action - Barnard instead creates a believable, nuanced, but no less intriguing tale, with well-developed, multi-layered characters, surprising twists, and impeccable pacing.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

How much more depressing can one get than the discovery of a dead baby? This one died in 1969, and the police have no missing baby reports to match it up with. Sad to start, sadder yet at the end, but (surprisingly) lots of nice, sympathetic people in the story, aside from the one or two "evil-baddies" and the several morally-lacking. Raises a lot of good but unanswerable questions.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Matt, a footballer who buys a house in a neighborhood he visited as a boy and discovers the skeleton of a child in its attic. He reacquaints himself with his old playmates of the summer of 1969 and eventually discovers the chilling truth behind the murder of the young child.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

too slow, but did like unusual "villain"---creepy actually.