A tangled tale weaves together unsolved mysteries

I’ve been trying to figure out how to give a thumbnail sketch of “Case Histories” by Kate Atkinson, but it is a real challenge. The cases in this book are intertwined and the characters loosely connected so one can’t give a linear narrative, but I’ll try.

This book follows British police inspector turned private detective Jackson Brodie as he struggles to solve four cases while dealing with being a divorced father. More upsetting, his ex-wife tells him she and her new lover are taking his daughter to New Zealand.

It has been 10 years since Laura Wyre had been brutally murdered on her first day at her father’s law firm. Theo Wyre has never given up on finding her killer and hires Jackson to do just that. Jackson isn’t optimistic, but finds the case more interesting than helping his elderly client Binky Rain find her missing cats.

Interviewing those who knew Laura is difficult, as most of her friends and classmates have moved on. The one woman who knew her well has remarried and lives in Australia.

Within days, he is called by Amelia and Julia Land. Their father has just died and while cleaning his study, they discovered Blue Mouse — a beloved stuffed animal that had belonged to their missing sister, Olivia. On a hot summer night about 20 years ago, Olivia and Amelia had been allowed to sleep in a tent. Amelia woke up during the night and discovered that 3-year-old Olivia was gone without a trace.

The police found no leads, and the case went cold. Now the sisters want to know if their father had something to do with Olivia’s disappearance. While they readily share whatever they recall, their older sister, Sylvia, is now in a convent and obviously knows something she refuses to share.
Now Jackson must divide his time between two cold cases and an eccentric old woman. To his surprise, the Land house is directly behind Binky Rain’s property. She tells him that the Land girls were a bit wild and poorly supervised often sneaking into her garden steal apples and call her a witch.

Before Jackson makes any headway in either case, he is hired by Shirley Morrison. Twenty-five years ago, her sister Michelle snapped and killer her husband. She asked Shirley to raise her daughter, Tanya, but the courts gave the baby to the late husband’s parents. By her teens, Tanya had run away, and Shirley wants Jackson to find her. She even sleeps with him to seal the deal. When he finds out she is married, he drops the case.

In a strange twist of fate, all the main characters happen to interact with a thin, yellow-haired homeless girl. She says her name is Lily-Rose but hints that is not her given name.
As Jackson works all the cases, it becomes clear that someone is trying to kill him. A concussion, a damaged brake line and food poisoning leave him feeling and looking rough.

By the last page, most mysteries are solved and most questions are answered, but not all of them are clear and concise. As I said, this is a tangled tale, but hard to put down.

AT A GLANCE
BOOK:
“Case Histories”
AUTHOR: Kate Atkinson
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown and Company
PUBLISHED: Oct. 15, 2007
PAGES: 434

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