He is approached by Hope McMaster, an adoptee anxious to locate her birth mother, which leads Jackson to see retired cop Ray and his wife Maggie, who knew the adoptive parents. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News?

Crystal was hovering around 39 years old, and it took a lot of work to stay in this holding pattern. He has two part time assistants - beautiful Tatiana used in honey traps, and young Sam Tilling, eager to be a detective. Case Histories' tells the story of Jackson Brodie, a private investigator who tries to find out the truth of some cases. I do like Jackson Brodie, and now Louise Munroe, and since I have already bought books three and four I will read on to see what happens next. His life is saved by first-aid performed by the real hero of the story, sixteen-year-old Reggie, a little battler who is adjusting to living on her own since her mother’s sudden death on holiday.

The marriage broke up, but Kate worked on as a single mum in various positions - from home help to legal secretary to teacher.

Jackson had never felt at home in Cambridge, never felt at home in the south of England if it came to that. Crystal thinks she is being followed and hires a private detective to investigate - yes, who else but Jackson Brodie. I liked Jackson Brodie, but I found Kate Atkinson's writing style too contemplative - with too many digressions. These have always been novels about character, and there are enough moments of tenderness between parents and children to balance out the cruelty inflicted on the young.Through the book, someone seems intent on killing Jackson, so the story is livened up by several fights. In addition to his hunt for a killer and a long-vanished young girl, Brodie takes on another missing-persons case. In her inimitable style she presents several, seemingly disconnected, characters with various different problems.

A perfect title, really, for the cynicism woven throughout the series, as once again we get multiple incidents separated by decades: a violent attack on a mother and young children while picnicking, with only a six-year-old survivor; a train crash; Brodie stealing a toddlers' hair for paternity testing; the family murderer set to be released from prison; the now-adult survivor disappearing…We bounce between Yorkshire and Edinburgh as strangers' lives continue to intersect with multiple plots and stories being woven together. Meanwhile Jackson goes sight seeing to Cramond Island where he tries to pull a floating body out of the sea, but fails.The second case involves Theo, a morbidly obese, middle-aged man who is unable to move on from his beloved daughter Laura's seemingly random murder in 1994. It's a pity because I would like to find out what the future held for Jackson and possibly DCI Louise Murdo, but there is almost nothing at all about Louise in this book. The Jackson Brodie novels were the first Kate Atkinson books I bought, one at a time as they were published. Brodie has several questions to ponder: Why would a road rage attacker want to kill him and another bystander, a crime novelist, who witnessed the incident?