Review of CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson

3.5 Stars

I recently heard that the latest book in the Jackson Brodie series is about to be released.  Two of Kate Atkinson’s books (Life After Life and A God in Ruins) are among my favourite novels so I thought I’d check out her mystery series, starting with Case Histories, the book that introduces the detective.

Jackson Brodie is asked to investigate three cases.  Amelia and Julia Land ask him to look into the disappearance of their 3-year-old sister Olivia 34 years earlier; Theo Wyre asks him to look into the murder of his much beloved 18-year-old daughter Laura 10 years earlier; and Shirley Morrison asks him to find her niece Tanya, the daughter of her sister Michelle who was found guilty of murdering her husband Keith 25 years earlier. 

The novel has shifting points of view.  Obviously, Jackson’s viewpoint dominates, but we also get the perspective of Amelia whose sister went missing, Theo whose daughter was killed, and Caroline who in the past lived another life “one she could hardly remember sometimes.  And at other times remember only too well” (136). 

Though the cases of the missing/lost girls are interesting, the focus of the book is less about the solving of the cases and more on examining sadness and loss and examining relationships between siblings and between parents and children.  The disappearance of Olivia has had a profound impact on Amelia as has the death of Laura on Theo.  Jackson has experienced loss in his life as well.  The relationships between/among the Land sisters are discussed, as is Jackson’s relationship with his sister.  Theo’s relationship with his two daughters and Mr. Land’s relationship with his four daughters are detailed.  Jackson has an 8-year-old daughter Marlee so that father-daughter bond is also developed. 

The cases of the missing girls are not too difficult to solve.  There are clues and, perhaps too obviously, Jackson thinks about Tanya’s age (300).  There is not always a happy ending, however:  “it was simply so rare that when you went searching for something precious that had been lost you actually found it” (361).  People involved in the three cases end up overlapping and it seems rather coincidental that they all connect. 

As previously mentioned, this is the first book of the series with this detective, so considerable background information is given.  Jackson was formerly a police officer but is now a private investigator.  His childhood and his marriage are described in considerable detail.  He is a decent, likeable person who believes “that his job was to help people be good rather than punish them for being bad” (79).  He has an especial interest in helping women.  There are many digressions in the novel where the reader is given Jackson’s opinions on a variety of subjects; these rants serve to develop his personality.

There are wonderful touches of humour.  Observations like “Well, that was the end then, she was Americanizing words.  Civilization would fall” (176) and “madness was endemic in Cambridge” (156) lighten the mood. 

I don’t think this is Atkinson’s best novel, but it is certainly enjoyable, so I can see myself returning to pick up another book in her Jackson Brodie series.