I adore Kate Atkinson and have read everything she’s published. Her latest novel, Death at the Sign of the Rook (Penguin Random House 2024) features Jackson Brodie, the now ex-detective of her famous crime series. Atkinson also of course writes incredible literary fiction (and short stories), but her crime series is so quirky, fun, clever and charming, with characters that now feel like old friends.
This novel is a combination of Agatha Christie (Poiret and Miss Marple), Fawlty Towers, and Upstairs/Downstairs – a rip-roaring, hilarious tragicomedy that hits all the notes for a superb crime story but also has humour, stereotypes, caricatures and sharp, witty one-liners in spades. Atkinson once again strikes just the right balance between devilishly sinister/mysterious and laugh-out-loud ridiculousness.
Like any good classic murder mystery, the story is set in a crumbling, deteriorating country mansion in the English countryside, Burton Makepeace, once a grand residence, but the occupants (Lady Milton and her family) now in circumstances so reduced that a good part of the house and the lands have been converted to a hotel, offering guests ‘Murder Mystery Weekends’, complete with a troupe of traveling actors, costumes, fine food and wine, and plenty of intrigue.
Alongside this thread, now retired detective Jackson Brodie is filling his increasingly empty days by investigating a small and seemingly unimaginative and insignificant crime of a stolen painting, taken from a private home. But his inquiries lead to a possible connection with another, rather more valuable, painting – a Turner, stolen some time earlier from Burton Makepeace.
The majority of the book is set well before the aforementioned Murder Mystery weekend, as we follow Brodie on his investigations, his reunion with his old partner Reggie Chase, and the various storylines of others in the frame, including the fabulous country vicar, a damaged ex-army major and various imperious aristocrats (some fallen on hard times). Atkinson’s brilliant inventiveness and skill gradually bring all the characters together accidentally and coincidentally, so that the Murder Mystery weekend ends up hosting the paying guests plus a variety of others that have stumbled into the picture (fittingly, in the middle of a snowstorm). Chaos ensues. There is more than one dead body. But are they actually dead? Or all part of the festivities? Guns and weapons abound, but are they real or props? And what is the relevance of the stolen paintings?
I could not love this author’s writing more. Her literary prose is superb, but in this crime series she has such fun with the characters and scenarios and plot lines, she is so clever and articulate in her playfulness with words, that her work is simply a joy to read. She creates outrageous and unforgettable situations that teeter deliciously close to old-fashioned farce and buffoonery, complete with ludicrously improbable scenarios that she nevertheless manages to wrangle into a believable, engaging and compelling narrative. Honestly, I would read a shopping list written by this author. But you don’t have to! Because she has an enormous backlist, starting with her first novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which remains one of my all-time favourites. Life After Life, Transcription and Shrines of Gaiety are also excellent.