On a recent charity shop trawl in Colchester, Essex, I found this World Book Night copy in a pet rescue charity shop in the old lanes in the shopping centre. I only paid 50p for it. Although I already have one WBN copy of this title, I bought this book to add to my collection of WBN books which I will be lending out. This book had no Bookcrossing number written anywhere in it, and so the original giver is unknown. Because there was no BCID, I have registered this book myself, but I will copy all the WBN information from the other copy I have of this title, and put it here, including the WBN logo.

Amazon Editorial Review

A major event: a new novel by the Whitbread Award winner, her first novel since Emotionally Weird, and probably her most commercial book yet.

In Cambridge, Jackson Brodie, a private investigator and former police detective, is quietly contemplating life as a divorced father when he is flung into the midst of three resurrected old crimes: a child who mysteriously disappeared from a tent in her back garden; an unidentified man who marched into an office and slashed the throat of a young girl; and a young woman found sitting in her kitchen next to the body of her husband, an axe buried in his head.

As he launches into his investigations, and becomes immersed in the demands of the victims’ families, Jackson has the sinister feeling that someone is following him. As he begins to unearth secrets that have remained buried in the past, he is assailed by his former wife’s plan to take his young daughter away to live in New Zealand. At the same time his stalker becomes increasingly malevolent and dangerous. In digging into the past Jackson seems to have unwittingly threatened his own future.

This wonderfully crafted, intricately plotted novel is heartbreaking, uplifting, full of suspense and often very funny. It shows Kate Atkinson returning to the literary scene at the height of her powers.

Dear Reader

Welcome to BookCrossing and thanks for being a part of World Book Night 2011, the largest book giveaway in history. 1,000,000 specially printed copies of 25 different books changed hands on March 5th 2011 and began their journey from reader to reader. This book is one of them. World Book Night has joined with BookCrossing to help track these books as they travel. You can be a part of that journey by making a comment in the book's journal here on BookCrossing. Your journal entry can say how you got the book, what you thought of it, your plans for it or whatever else you might like to add.

On BookCrossing you may choose to remain anonymous or join (it's free). If you join, you’ll be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry for this specific copy of this book (other copies of the book are travelling with their own ID number. Every copy of every book has a unique ID). It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address) and spam-free.

Thanks in advance for being part of World Book Night and BookCrossing. And happy reading and sharing.

This book is being released via BookCrossing on 5 March 2011 as part of the inaugural World Book Night. With the full support of the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day and the BBC, one million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.

Read and release!

Here is my own review which I wrote after reading this novel:

I enjoyed this book. The story is about Jackson Brodie, (a former police officer who is now a Private Eye), and the cases he is investigating. The strange story of the Land sisters and the disappearance of toddler, Olivia Land. Also the murder of Laura Wyre and the fate of Tanya, the infant daughter of Michelle who was serving time in prison for alegedly murdering her husband with an axe.

Jackson is a very caring man, and I found him likeable. Someone is trying to murder him and no one knows who or why, (for a while). I found it intriguing how all of these cases intertwine eventually, although at the end of the book Jackson flies off to France, leaving us readers to work out what may have happened in some of the cases.
I would have liked to have heard more about his own sister's murder, and I could have done without reading the yukky sex scene on pages 262 and 263!!
I liked Jackson's reference to a song by Hank Williams about never getting out of this world alive, after Jackson's house had exploded, (luckily he wasn't in it)!(Page 326). I will have to remember that one!
I will now try to lend this book out.

Today, after our Anglican Church service, BlairACharles borrowed this book from my WBN book box.
I hope you enjoy it Blair!

I was not really interested in this book as it seemed a bit strange. It proved to be strange, and fascinating. There is one story running through the book, common practice in a book. Inside that one story were several stories with various sub-plots.
Case Histories, once started was difficult to put down as the you wove your way through the various elements. I enjoyed the way the story ended but at the same time I was annoyed as I so wanted to keep on reading. For a long winters night, or a quite weekend, I can recommend Case Histories. Some place where you can put up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign, sit back and enjoy.

Thank you Blair for returning this book to me. I will now be putting it back into my WBN book box for someone else to borrow, (hopefully).

This book is going to my friend Beverley when I see her this evening. I will stand over her while she does a journal entry to "catch" it !! At least that way I can be sure of at least one journal entry from her! A lot of people don't understand the BC site and so do not make any journal entries!

Yes, I have this book, and I will read it. I liked the TV series of the story.
Bev

I loved this book, and although it took me a long time to read it, I was actually sorry when it was finished. I also watched the TV series which was based on this novel.
I didn't think I wanted another book to read as it takes up so much time, especially when I get interested in the story.\However now I am very tempted to read one of the 2012 books that are here to be lent out. They sound good and look good! Maybe!!

I received this book today, and it is now back in my 2011 World Book Night Book Box. However, I will be retiring this 2011 box for a while as I want to promote the books in my 2012 WBN book box. I do not have all the titles yet, but I do have quite a few of them. The others are proving very difficult to get hold of. So, until all my 2012 books are out with new readers, this book will be having a rest!

This book is now reserved for "linguistics" as my part in the New Wish List Tag Game in the forum. I will mail it when I am next in the UK.

I will be posting this book sometime between 27th and 29th June from the UK.

This is my part in the Wish List Tag Game.
I hope you enjoy it Linguistkris!

Thank you so much for this wishlist book, chamonix! I once had a copy of this but never got around to reading it before I moved, but put the title to my wishlist when I had to leave the book behind in Austria. Let's hope Case Histories and I will make it this time around. :)

Reserved as a Wishlist Tag for Vekiki.
Now let's hope this emerges from one of the next moving boxes... :)

Resurfaced from a moving box, this has gone straight to the top of Mt TBR.

Well, wow! I'm so glad I read this, even if it took me forever and I needed the added nudge of the wishlist tag game (and the sequel waiting on my shelf :)) to finally get me going. Like BlairACharles said above though, it's almost unputdownable once you've got into the story.
At first, it felt a little farfetched that the three missing person's plot strands would start entwining so readily, but the character of Jackson Brodie was strong enough to hold the plot together quite easily. He's kind of a cross of all those beautifully sad, desperate and somewhat self-destructive detectives that seem so very popular in the genre (Marlowe! Wallander! Adamsberg!), where they drink too much, have lost their families (usually to the demands of their job), have a bit of a helper syndrome, and of course some deep dark wound from their past. (Nonetheless I totally agree with chamonix44 that he is a very likable protagonist, to the point where it annoyed me a bit that he is engineered to be so appealing to the female reader and every other woman in the book alike! ;))

I could see the solution(s) coming maybe 100 pages to the end, so this wasn't the most surprising mystery I've ever read, but at the same time it was very well constructed and I couldn't spot any annoying plot holes. This really is a "people" book, with lots of beautifully detailled characters with lots of backstory. I would love to meet the Russian "babysitters" again! Also, one extra point for the mention of Wakefield.

Lucky I've got Brodie's next case on hand -- I intend not to wait anywhere as long as I did with this. ;)

ETA: Just a week or so after reading, I chanced upon the adaptation on tv, and while Edinburgh(!)* certainly makes for an equally attractive backdrop, I just wasn't impressed. It was much of the same story, but it really didn't do anything for me; all the grittiness was gone. Laura wasn't dead ten years, Theo wasn't fat, the yellow-haired girl wasn't yellow-haired -- all tiny things in themselves, but I felt that all the intricate connections had been destroyed. It was just coincidence after coincidence, and I switched off half way through the first episode. And since the series' ratings are really good, I think this proves nothing so much as the fact that I am much better at enjoying books than films.

ETA yet again*: Aaah, after reading One Good Turn, the setting (and the character of Louise, added rather out of turn) suddenly made sense. Still, I'd so much rather read than watch this.

In the mail to lovely Vekiki in London!

This is on my 30 for 30 reading challenge that i will do next year, but I've been meaning to read it for a long time since I like kate atkinson's other stuff, so I'm doubly ecxcited to get this - Thank you

Hmm... this is one of the most simplistic books by atkinson that I've read - her plots are usually a lot more convoluted which works well with her warm and easy writing style. But I still enjoyed this and was reasonably engaged throughout

I've given this to my boyfriend, for his mum who lives in Italy & doesn't find it easy to get english books - I doubt she'll journal it, but she'll pass it on to another ex-pat when she's done, or leave it somewhere to be found by a stranger