WHITESTONE BOOK CLUB
BOOK CLUB REVIEWS - September 2026
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
The first in the Jackson Brodie series is a crime thriller as the title denotes but as the main character was ex-army, ex- police and is now a private investigator, he is an interesting character himself with his own problems and difficult childhood memories.
The novel is set in a hot summer in Cambridge when Brodie is hired to investigate three unsolved murders from the past. The first one from 1970, the second from 1994, and the third from 1979.
The first from the Land family, chronicles the disappearance of a three year old girl, the youngest and favourite of four daughters. She went missing from a sleepover in a tent in the garden leaving her sister asleep and was never found. Two of her elder sisters, now in their forties, their mother long dead, prompt the investigation when, after their father dies, they find the child’s favourite toy among his belongings. The eldest daughter is a nun living in a convent.
The second case is the murder of an eighteen year old student. After ten years, her father is still grieving and is desperate to find her killer and hires Brodie to investigate.
The third case is the murder of her unhelpful husband by a young woman under stress by her crying baby. She is declared insane and imprisoned but later we meet her again when she moves on with her life. Her younger sister promises to look after the baby but is incapable and the child is taken in to care. Now she wants Brodie to find her child years later.
Jackson Brodie has his own problems, haunted by his own childhood tragedies and now feeling very protective of his eight year old daughter co-parenting with his ex-wife, now living with her new partner. When he questions his child’s upbringing, he receives a punch and a black eye but retains his integrity.
The Land family has a next door neighbour, Binky Rain, an elderly lady who is convinced that someone is stealing her cats. She calls on Jackson to help. Just to complicate matters,
someone is trying to kill him.
A complex plot but the writer very cleverly links the cases by themes of grief, loss, survival and family relationships.
The book produced a very lively discussion and it was considered very readable although some had enjoyed reading it twice, mainly because of the complex plot needing some clarification. Most of the group enjoyed it but there were some mixed feelings. The author is known for injecting humour into situations, and the characters are very well drawn, even humorous, but some of the scenes are very graphic even horrific and it was felt by some that the humour was misplaced. Some of the solutions were considered far fetched but it is quality writing when all the cases are cleverly connected in the end.
At our next meeting on October 12th, we will review Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall.
Jane Rose
