The Skeleton Speaks

A classic, 1950s whodunit that’s part ghost story, part Irish history.

The latest installment in Donkin’s (The Beast from the Sky, 2012, etc.) series featuring Gertrude and her two amateur sleuth friends, Judith and Henry Geeth, the novel follows the three main characters to an ancient castle in the Irish countryside that is supposedly haunted by a Republican patriot brutally executed at that spot 150 years earlier. The occasion is an all-night Halloween party thrown by wealthy, eccentric Colin Keeley, which brings Gertrude and company together with Colin’s lover, Louise, Colin’s family members and others. The stage is set with the promise of a talking skeleton, kept inside the castle’s dungeon, and a Miss Marple–like adventure. Once the entire group is trapped in the same room, family tensions that have been brewing over clashing politics immediately boil over. The night takes a dramatic turn when Colin suffers a psychological breakdown and is murdered. The claustrophobic party setting is comfortably familiar, and overall, the proceedings remain civilized. In an apparent effort to imbue Gertrude with a 1950s, upper-class demeanor, the character speaks in arcane, wordy monologues. Once the Geeths begin to race the police to solve the mysterious murder, however, the novel takes off, abandoning the clunky passages that weighed down the opening. At this point, the cozy also leaves off Gertude’s speeches and uses more entertaining dialogue. The final reveal makes it all worthwhile.

Those who love to follow amateur sleuths in their hunt for clues will delight in the series.