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Robert Richardson
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Skeleton Key (Augustus Maltravers Mystery Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Robert Richardson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 583 ratings
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The playwright and novelist Augustus Maltravers and his actress girlfriend Tess Davy have planned a relaxing week staying with friends in Bellringer Street, an historic thoroughfare near the grounds of Edenbridge House, stately home of the Earl of Pembury.

The only foreseeable disruption looks to be the imminent arrival of their hosts' baby - which is quite disruptive enough as far as Maltravers is concerned.

But greater dramas start to unfold when a skeleton is stolen from the cellars of the House.

At first it seems no more than a bizarre joke but, suddenly, Maltravers and Tess find themselves caught up in a terrifying cycle of vengeance and murder.

The heir to the estate, Simon, Lord Dunford, is found murdered.

Though he was a likable sort, he was thoroughly hated by his next-in-succession: his caddish cousin Oliver Hawkhurst and the estate's coldly efficient secretary, Mister York.

With everyone around them under suspicion, Maltravers and Tess find it increasingly difficult to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Who had the strongest motive for murder?

And will they strike again?

‘Skeleton Key’ is the second in this quintessentially English series of detective stories featuring playwright and amateur sleuth Augustus Maltravers. It was previously published as 'Bellringer Street'.

The first Maltravers mystery, "An Act of Evil", won the John Creasey Award for the best first crime novel.

Praise for Robert Richardson.

''With this, his first novel, Robert Richardson makes a most impressive debut as a writer of the classical English detective story… He knows how to create suspense and an atmosphere of incipient evil; he provides us with a genuine puzzle, his characters are believable people, and the motive of his murderer is psycho-logically credible.” P D James

“Skilful rerouting and the taste of real tears” The Sunday Times

“Eccentrics, suspects and witty writing abound” The Times

“Here is a book to be missed only at your own peril” Armchair Detective

“Elegantly written, beautifully characterised, suspenseful and oddly moving” Mystery Reader’s Journal

“Grand entertainment, deft handling and suave wit” Publishers Weekly

Robert Richardson is a journalist and editor who lives in England.
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  1. Book 2 of 6
    Augustus Maltravers Mystery
  2. Print length
    205 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    September 10, 2014
  6. File size
    2982 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00NHXDEWI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lume Books (September 10, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 10, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2982 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 205 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 583 ratings

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Robert Richardson

Robert Richardson

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
583 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ST
4.0 out of 5 stars More good than bad if you like the genre
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017
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I'm all over the place on this one. First of all, (NOT firstly) I love most English mysteries. This one doesn't disappoint in most respects; it has all the back-of-the-hand-to-the-forehead drama and the requisite American boor whose dialog is entertaining but not as bad as the older books where all the Americans talked like old Hopalong Cassidy movies. Once I adjusted to all the run-on sentences I really loved the author's writing style. I didn't find it overdone or pretentious, I found it articulate and amusing. I skipped over all the boring cricket stuff which I guess was just to prove that there is someone who understands the game but, honestly, who really cares? The author also liked to demonstrate his knowledge of all things American. Not at all germane to the plot but whatever. Sadly, the amazing prose petered out and the weak plot took over but I would still read another of the series if it came along. There were a couple of things I wish I had written down because they were so funny and so English. There was also a sales pitch on the peerage that I thought was actually kind of interesting and the author's frankness about English reserve was another highlight. All in all, not a bad read, probably because the series is about 20 years old--when you could actually expect decent writing and grammar. However, I always find that the best writers, when they make an error, make a doozy. I was absolutely gob smacked when I came across "disorientated". Wow.
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Suzanne S. Barnhill
5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good on second reading
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2015
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When I saw this in my BookBub email, the names Augustus Maltravers and Tess Davy sounded very familiar, so I checked my book log index and found that yes, I had read five books by Robert Richardson in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991 (presumably when they were published). Since I had apparently enjoyed them, I downloaded this free one. After I had gotten into it, I became curious about when the book was written. When I checked the front matter, I found it had been published—and I had read it—in 1988 as “Bellringer Street.” At the end of this Kindle volume was a sample of “An Act of Evil,” which only a little reading revealed was actually Richardson’s first book, “The Latimer Mercy,” published in 1987.

It is not unreasonable to reissue an author’s backlist as an ebook, but I can’t help feeling it is a little dishonest to retitle the books. It seems like a scheme to snare readers into buying (or at least reading) them twice. I did very much enjoy rereading this one, though, and since nothing about it ever rang a bell, it was like reading a new book. When I checked my book log entry, I found that I had merely transcribed the dust jacket copy without comment. Perhaps this reflected my bewilderment at a novel so much of which was composed of incomprehensible cricket references, which I found equally baffling on a second reading. In any case, I won’t feel compelled to reread any of the rest of Richardson’s oeuvre—or, if I do, I’ll check them out of the library!

The plot of the book was sufficiently complex to be interesting but not so complex as to discourage speculation. But what makes the books so entertaining is Richardson’s style, which has just the right amount of satirical snark.

It must be said that, in addition to a general dearth of commas (and not just the Oxford ones) and a few items of questionable grammar, there are obvious typos (or scannows) in the text. The fact that “him” appears once as “hire” seems to confirm my suspicion that the Elizabethan composer mentioned is probably Tallis and not Tanis (when asked about “composer tanis,” Google asks, “Did you mean composer Tallis?”). Consequently I am inclined to be lenient about “the York’s house” and “the Penroses,” assuming that they are merely transcription errors.
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John H. Manhold
3.0 out of 5 stars 4* story with interesting comments on England's peerage; 3* caveat concerning abusive character.
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2015
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Skeleton Key, first published in UK by Victor Gollancz, Ltd as Bellringer Street, now by Endeavour Press Ltd in e-book form by Robert Richardson.
Gus Maltraves, former investigative journalist turned successful playwright and more recently successful novelist is a former Cricket player of note and is invited to play as an alternate for the Edenbridge House in their annual game against the town team. He, along with his significant other, notable actress Tres Davy, are invited to stay with his friend Peter and pregnant wife Susan for the several days of play. Lord Dunford (Simon), the heir apparent for the dominant Penbury Castle and surrounding acres is the Captain of the House Team that also includes his most proper but seemingly somewhat sinister secretary Allister York who also appears to be overly dominant of his wife Joanna. The castle and grounds are magnificent but `hard times' have forced Simon's father to open the compound to tourists. One of the attractions is the skeleton of an early bastard relative who became a highwayman duly hanged but overlooked through the years for burial. Other characters of importance are Luke Norton an antique dealer friend of Simon and Simon's young nephew Oliver who is next in line for the Penbury estate, deeply in debt and facing bankruptcy because Simon refuses to `bail him out' again. The skeleton strangely disappears, the house wins the cricket match for the first time in years and during the following all night carousal, Simon is murdered. The plot continues to follow efforts to discover the killer.
Conclusion: a mildly interesting murder mystery with interesting illumination on England's peerage. Caveat required for treatment of abusive character.
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Top reviews from other countries

KL.Caley
4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable book, particularly for fans of MC Beaton, Agatha Christie style of the crime genre.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2016
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Brief Outline
Novelist Augustus and his girlfriend Tess have planned a week’s holiday staying with friends in Bellringer. This stay is immediately disrupted when a skeleton is stolen from Edenbridge House, the stately home of the Earl of Pembury. The mystery of the missing skeleton surges through the village with rumours abound. So when the heir to the estate, Simon (Lord Dunford) is found murdered, most people find themselves as suspects.
Maltravers and Tess find themselves caught up in the mystery of vengeance and murder. Could it be Simon’s own cousin Oliver Hawkhurst or the estate's coldly efficient secretary, Mister York? Who had the strongest motive for murder? Maltravers and Tess increasingly want to know the truth and more importantly, want to stop the killer from killing again.
Writing Style
This book does start very slowly (particularly for a crime novel) and it does take a while to build up the suspense and the storyline. I think this is partly to do with a lot of characters in the book for the reader to get to know. However a few chapters in it gets going and the mystery starts to take shape. I would say this is more of an Agatha Christie or M.C. Beaton style of pace.
The storyline is quite interesting and the settings are very well described; a small village, cricket pitch, large estate house, etc. There are quite a lot of characters in this novel to get used to, each with their own agendas and interest in the murder, this was probably my slight criticism of the novel as it distracted me from the story a little trying to remind myself who was who and what they had said/done previously. However the main characters Maltravers, Tess and Simon were all very interesting and it was enjoyable to read their story unfold.
Summary
An enjoyable book, particularly for fans of MC Beaton, Agatha Christie style of the crime genre.
About the author
I came across this book as the author has won the John Creasey Annual Award given by the Crime Writers Association. This award is for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality first published in the UK in English. I have adored the work of some of the previous winners including SJ Watson and it is always a helpful place to discover new talent.
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Hoener, Birgit
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly written, good plot!
Reviewed in Germany on February 27, 2016
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An absolutely enjoyable mystery story, and what a command of language!!! The way the author played and juggled with words was just brilliant, thus creating a humorous (ironical?) story with very well developped characters. The plot was very good and kept the reader guessing until the end.
The story and protagonists reminded me a bit of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey and his wife Harriet.
I could say a lot more, but then there would be spoilers, so all I will say is: go and read this!!! I will definitely try and get the others in this series.
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Skeleton is not the key but its there
Reviewed in India on September 7, 2015
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If you like the British mystery fiction of the Agatha Christie genre you may like it. At the start it meanders a bit, with typical British understated style spins a yarn that is a little thin as murder plots go. Actually the Skeleton part is deceptively woven into the plot; but it fails to live its importance to be find a space in the title. The ending is a little and could have been cut short. On the whole I liked reading it for its laid back style of English writing with many beautiful part of the vocabulary that is vanishing in spoken English that is increasingly getting bastardized. An author with good potential provided he spins his yarn around a more powerful core. As a cricket lover, I loved the clever way how the author has deftly woven the great game into the plot. Good show!
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JCL
5.0 out of 5 stars Hightly recommended!
Reviewed in Canada on April 22, 2018
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Wonderful read! I love mysteries and enjoy a well written story and this gave me both! I have purchased the other three in the series and am working on the third now!
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JJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2015
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An intriguing story with two amusing and likeable leads, Augustus Maltravers and his partner Tess Davy.
Well written and fairly amusing in parts, the duo have their work cut out to find the truth behind a murder and have to take into account a missing skeleton, cricket and the landed gentry.
I look forward to Robert Richardson's next book.
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