FREE: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

The listing, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson has ended.

2005 trade paperback, 336 pages. Cover is worn.

In this fourth novel from Whitbread winner Atkinson (Behind the Scenes at the Museum), private detective Jackson Brodie—ex-cop, ex-husband and weekend dad—takes on three cases involving past crimes that occurred in and around London.
The first case introduces two middle-aged sisters who, after the death of their vile, distant father, look again into the disappearance of their beloved sister Olivia, last seen when three years old, while they were camping under the stars during an oppressive heat wave.

Next a retired lawyer, who lives only on the fumes of possible justice, enlists Jackson's aid in solving the brutal killing of his grown daughter 10 years earlier.

In the third case file, the sibling of an infamous ax-bludgeoner seeks a reunion with her niece, who as a baby was a witness to the murder. Jackson's reluctant persistence heats up these cold cases and by happenstance leads him to reassess his own painful history. The humility of the extraordinary, unabashed characters is skillfully revealed with humor and surprise. Atkinson contrasts the inevitable results of family dysfunction with random fate, gracefully weaving the three stories into a denouement that taps into collective wishful thinking and suggests that warmth and safety may be found in the aftermath of blood and abandonment. (Publishers Weekly)
Atkinson's celebrated talent makes for a novel that positively sparkles with surprise, comedy, tragedy, and constant, page-turning delight