The 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 is 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. That message and the source of its hate will remain all but incomprehensible to Sara, until war has left her with a very new view of those sunny picnics on the Hallam lawns. One of Robert Barnard's serious mysteries, The Skeleton in the Grass is brilliantly evocative of the period right before the Second World War. A study of British class distinctions peopled by finely-drawn characters.