The Skeleton in the Grass

Remarkably inventive British author Barnard recreates England in the mid-1930s in this spellbinding mystery. Sarah Causeley goes to the tranquil country estate where Dennis and Helen Hallam live with their grown childrenOliver, Will, Elizabethand six-year-old Chloe, whose care Sarah assumes. Very soon, the young governess falls in love with the warm, intellectual, generous family. She admires the parents' idealistic pacifism and support for the League of Nations. Rumors of ""The King's Matter'' (Mrs. Simpson) and the Nazi threat fail to disturb the atmosphere, but Will's leaving to fight for the Republic in Spain is a blow. And more troubles loom at home. Instigated by a vaunting patriot and secret fascist, Major Coffey, village lads play low tricks on ``cowardly'' Dennis, which culminate in tragedy: one of the boys, Chris Keene, is found fatally shot outside the Hallams' house. The community believes the family guilty of Chris's murder, and the consequences end an idyll for Sarah. The killer is never caught but is identified, years later, in a haunting episode that only Barnard could provide. Paperback rights to Dell. (May)