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. 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.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.