'The Skeleton in the Rose Bed' is the fifth instalment in Alys Clare’s 'A World’s End Bureau Mystery' series. I haven’t read the four earlier instalments, but this did not hinder me from thoroughly enjoying this well-written and intelligently-plotted mystery thriller. Although it also gave me an appetite for reading the earlier books and filling in some of the gaps in backstories and relationship dynamics that I was missing.

It is 1882 and Lily Raynor’s private investigation agency, The World’s End Bureau, now has an established reputation in London with numerous successful cases behind it. The Prologue introduces the novel’s primary antagonist – a chilling serial killer known as The Barrow Man. He is described as waiting on Tower Hill in the darkness of pre-dawn, a place known in English history as a site of brutal execution and death. From the offset, we know this will be no cosy mystery, and an atmosphere of dread and horror is established.

The novel itself follows two interconnected storylines. The first involves the discovery of a skeleton in the garden of three elderly siblings – the Fetterplaces - who live in the aptly named Mary Rose Court on Tower Hill. The skeleton appears to be of a small, delicate female who has been beheaded. The Fetterplaces (who add some much-needed Dickensian comedy to the proceedings) want to find out more about their discovery and whether their suspicions (think royal females beheaded on Tower Hill) could be confirmed.

However, the Fetterplaces have also been unnerved by night-time lights and movement near to the grave and fear that someone may be trying to steal their find. When Lily’s partner, Felix, makes a night-time visit to the site, he is attacked and nearly killed. So, a second investigation opens into who might want him dead and who is behind the midnight lights.

The storyline is really engaging and I was entranced from the beginning to the exciting, nail-biting conclusion. It is some time since I have felt scared in reading a novel and there are some moments in this one of real fear and apprehension. The characters are all immensely likeable and the point of view shifts between them, including the killer which is particularly unsettling. I also loved the minor characters: Marmaduke Smithers, Felix’s slightly dissolute but good-hearted landlord; and the mysterious Tamáz Edey, gypsy boatman with uncanny powers.

Given the gravity of the crimes, my only minor quibble in a novel that otherwise put not a foot wrong was why the police were not involved. To be fair, Clare is aware of this and, through Marmaduke, Lily is urged on several occasions to involve the law. Her reluctance to do so, though, is only partly convincing, particularly after she has seen the killer’s lair and knows what is at stake.

However, this can be forgotten as the story leads up to an exhilarating and exciting conclusion. Without giving away spoilers, the ending is very clever and points us forward to the next novel which, if this one is anything to go by, is going to be a corker.

Highly recommended.

This is the best of the world’s end Detective bureau books yet! That's saying something because they are all fantastic!

Lily opened the World’s End Detective Bureau a few years ago when her grandparents died. She hired Felix as her assistant, and he quickly became a dear friend and, soon after, a love interest. The romantic subplot of the series has been simmering for four books and we see lovely progress in this fifth book.

There are two mysteries here. First, some siblings believe that a skeleton buried in their garden is Anne Boleyn. They want Lily to prove that it is the beheaded queen. While investigating, Felix is attacked by a man who has a hideaway in the church yard that shares a wall with the garden. The second mystery is finding the attacker. The found family (which included two new characters - a same sex couple living in the rooms Lily rents out) comes together to care for Felix. His amnesia from a head injury provides some touching moments between him and Lily. Tomáz has his largest role ever in this book, as the people who work on the canals are aware of the attacker.

The climatic action scene involves Lily, Fexlix, and Tomáz. It was hard to read - I couldn’t believe Ali’s Clare would kill off a character, but rest assured, it makes sense in the end.

The story actually serves as an origin story, of sorts, for a famous criminal. The reveal of that element was stunning!


As always, the present tense, omniscient narration lets us see inside the heads of Lily, Felix, and the villain.

Historical thriller with plenty of twists and a bunch of interesting characters. The story generally moved along but at a slow pace.

An excellent entry in an excellent series. This book, like all in the series, is well-plotted, well-written, and moves along quickly through its chilling plot. Lily and Felix are asked to investigate what appears to be a very old skeleton buried in, yes, a rose bed in the garden of a house shared by a set of elderly siblings. That discovery leads to a much more disturbing series of events, and there are a couple of historical twists in the plot.
This book in particular has some very moving emotional moments and a disturbing villain, who has his own first person POV sections. I would highly recommend reading the other books in the series so the relationships among the main characters and the deepening ties between Lily and Felix make more sense. They are also just excellent books and well worth a read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. All views are entirely my own and offered voluntarily.