'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 ...
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'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.
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Add this copy of Case Histories to cart. $21.97, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2005 by Back Bay Books.
This writer is pretty well known but I only discovered her recently. Her output is small and each book different but many include her detective. They're not standard mysteries yet satisfy a mystery lover, like myself. She's just a wonderful writer. Read it!
GaylonP
Oct 7, 2014
I passed it on.
If you enjoy Kate Atkinson you will love this one. It is
simply fantastic.
Barbara B
Jun 28, 2013
Disappointed
I like this author, but found that this book I couldn't even read.
Gerbil
May 26, 2011
Many twists & turns
This is the first Kate Atkinson book I have ever read. It was recommended to me by a friend - I just happened to see him reading the book and inquired about it. I just finished the book - it was excellent and I can't stop thinking about it. The author slowly brings together several stories/mysteries until the loose ends are tied up at the end. Well most of them anyway. There are some things the reader is left to guess at, but that makes the book just more fun and intriguing. To use the cliche, it was a "page turner". I usually don't have time to read a book in one sitting, so it was hard for me to put down, when it was time for me to do something else.
