The Skeleton Man

PENGUIN BOOKS

The Skeleton Man

Praise for Jim Kelly

‘Kelly is fast gaining a reputation for his literate, atmospheric

novels’ Daily Mail

‘A significant new talent’ Sunday Times

‘A rare combination of poetic writing and a gripping plot’

Sunday Telegraph

‘The sense of place is terrific: the fens really brood. Dryden,

the central character, is satisfyingly complicated… a good,

atmospheric read’ Observer

‘A masterful stylist, Kelly crafts sharp, crisp sentences so pure,

so true, they qualify as modern poetry’ Publishing News

‘A sparkling star newly risen in the crime fiction

firmament’ Colin Dexter

‘Superb… Kelly has produced another story rich in plot and

character, with a bit of history as well’ Publishers Weekly

‘A thriller debut of genuine distinction. Kelly is a name to

watch… a compelling read’ Crime Time

‘Beautifully written… The climax is chilling. Sometimes a

book takes up residence inside my head and just won’t leave.

The Water Clock did just that’ Val McDermid

‘An atmospheric, intriguing mystery with a tense denouement’

Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph

‘Kelly goes from strength to strength’ Mirror

‘One of the most exciting British mystery writers of

the moment’ Advertiser

‘Excellent no-frills thriller with a real bite. 4 stars’ FHM

‘Kelly’s evocation of the bleak and watery landscapes provide

a powerful backdrop to a wonderful cast of characters’

The Good Book Guide

‘The Water Clock’s praise is well deserved… highly

recommended’ Washington Post

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Kelly lives in Ely with the biographer Midge Gillies and their young daughter. The Skeleton Man is his fifth novel, following The Water Clock, The Fire Baby, The Moon Tunnel and The Coldest Blood.

He has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the CWA John Creasey Dagger for The Water Clock, and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for The Fire Baby. In 2006 Jim Kelly was awarded the Dagger in the Library by the Crime Writers’ Association for a body of work ‘giving greatest enjoyment to crime fiction readers’.

To find out more about Jim Kelly and other Penguin crime writers, go to www.penguinmostwanted.co.uk

The Skeleton Man

JIM KELLY

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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www.penguin.com

First published by Michael Joseph 2007

Published in Penguin Books 2008

1

Copyright © Jim Kelly, 2007

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

9780141889849

In memory of

Robert J. M. Gillies

MBE, MRCVS

1921–2006

A proud son of the Rock, and a great reader of books

Acknowledgements

I owe a debt to many in the writing of The Skeleton Man. The village of Jude’s Ferry is a fiction but its story was inspired by that of a real-life community. I must therefore thank Rex Sawyer for his affectionate history, Little Imber on the Down: Salisbury Plain’s Ghost Village. My lost village is a patchwork of many places real and imaginary. I stole the name from the Jude’s Ferry Inn at West Row, near Mildenhall, and anyone wishing to drink in the true atmosphere of the watery fens can do no better than to stop a while at this inn on the site of a Roman port. The Five Miles from Anywhere pub I describe doesn’t exist, although the name was once popular in the Fens.