Case Histories by Kate Atkinson is a suspenseful and heart-breaking tale of a former police inspector turned private investigator named Jackson Brodie. Brodie is surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, yet his small and battered belief in helping people remains intact. This life-affirming book not only conveys the mysteries of life, but also its inanities and hilarities. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery story that is both insightful and intelligent.

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• Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Longlist (2005)
• Saltire Society Literary Award for Scottish Book of the Year (2005)

'Investigating other people’s tragedies and cock-ups and misfortunes was all he knew. He was used to being a voyeur, the outsider looking in, and nothing, but nothing, that anyone did surprised him any more. Yet despite everything he’d seen and done, inside Jackson there remained a belief – a small, battered and bruised belief – that his job was to help people be good rather than punish them for being bad.'Cambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet – Lost on the left, Found on the right – and the two never seem to balance. His days are full of people clamouring for answers and explanations. A jealous husband suspects his wife. Two spinster sisters make a shocking find. A solicitor investigates an old murder. A nurse has lost her niece; a widow, her cats. Jackson has never felt at home in Cambridge, and has a failed marriage to prove it. He is forty-five but feels much, much older. He is at that dangerous age when men suddenly notice that they’re going to die eventually, inevitably, and there isn’t a damn thing they can do about it. Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life is brought sharply into focus.Ingeniously plotted, full of suspense and heartbreak, Case Histories is a feat of bravura storytelling that conveys the mysteries of life, its inanities and its hilarities. It is a life-affirming work of profound insight and intelligence.From the Trade Paperback edition.

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