Press

What the critics say

Her best book yet, an astonishingly complex and moving literary detective story that made me sob but also snort with laughter. It's the sort of novel you have to start rereading the minute you've finished it
- Guardian

Sharp humour, together with a number of unexpected twists makes this a typically pacey and intelligent read
- Daily Mail

A greedy feast of a story by a masterful author...A profound, exciting and lingering read
- Daily Express

Triumphant...Her best book yet...A tragi-comedy for our times
- Sunday Telegraph

To read it is to enter a hall of mirrors...Part complex family drama, part mystery, it winds up having more depth and vividness than ordinary thrillers and more thrills than ordinary fiction...A wonderfully tricky book
- New York Times

As satisfying as anything dreamed up by Raymond Chandler, but the beauty of the novel lies in its spot-on characterizations, pitch perfect observations of contemporary culture and a sharp, wisecracking narrative voice
- Time Out

Atkinson is very good indeed... more satisfying than many detective novels. Everyone who picks it up will feel compelled to follow it through to the last page
- Guardian

Brilliantly detailed and unexpectedly funny
- Mirror

Civilised, funny, life-affirming and hugely enjoyable
- Literary Review

Brilliantly playful, witty and original... massive and consistent talent for comedy
- The Scotsman

Perceptive and engaging
- Independent

Shot through with sharp, black humour, and introducing a loveable hero in Brodie, this is storytelling that satisfies at every level
- Marie Claire (Book of the Month)

Murder, mystery and Atkinson's skill make for an atmospheric and moving story
- Eve

Intriguing and affecting... she has also created a compelling central chracter in world-weary private investigator Jackson Brodie, who is determined to bring justice to all the lives that lie fractured around him
- Red (Book of the Month)

Funny, furious fourth novel rumbustiously drives a path through the genre of detective fiction, demolishing its careful, forensic summation of human behaviour and replacing them with bloody, believable, vigorous tales
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Vivid, multifaceted... Case Histories manages to be such an ultimately joyful novel.. I found myself captivated throughout by the vivacity and big-hearted humour... skilled juxtaposition
- WBQ

Not just the best novel I have read this year...but the best mystery of the decade. There are actually four mysteries, nesting like Russian dolls, and when they begin to fit together, I defy any reader not to feel a combination of delight and amazement. Case Histories is the literary equivalent of a triple axel. I read it once for pleasure and then again just to see how it was done. This is the kind of book you shove in people's faces, saying 'You gotta read this!
- Entertainment Weekly