The Masters of the House

Matthew and Annie, ages 13 and 11 respectively, are abruptly thrust into adulthood when their mother dies in childbirth and their father breaks down. Wanting to keep their family together, Matthew and Annie care for their two younger siblings and do their best to decipher and work the adult world toward their goal of keeping the four siblings together in their house. Incoherent murmurings of their father lead them to believe he had been having an affair with a housewife with a reputation from their town. They become cautious when she starts nosing around the house seeking their father. When Matthew and Annie find her body in the yard, they confer and decide to bury her to prevent the inevitable attention from authorities an investigation into her murder would entail. The whodunnit is wondering who, of the cast of adult around the kids, did the deed. Robert Barnard is a wonderful writer who is not afraid of leaving you with a few things to wonder about. This book is no longer in print, but is available as a used book and is well worth a little digging for an unusually good read.

I have read all Robert Barnard's books, many of them more than once. (Barnard is one of the few mystery writers who repays re-reading.) And of them all, this remains my favorite. It is a claustrophobic, Dickensian tale of children thrust harshly into being the "adults" of the family because the adults are gone--literally or psychologically. (This is the ever-present theme in Dickens: the adults act like children, so the children have to act like adults.) The scene with the little boy driving--hardly tall enough to reach the car-pedals--is the stuff of nightmares and enormous relief. This is a brilliant book in almost every respect: brilliant novel as well as brilliant mystery.