Death at the Sign of the Rook - (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson

Book Synopsis

AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - THE INSTANT #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER (SUNDAY TIMES, UK) - The highly anticipated return of private eye Jackson Brodie in the newest installment of the bestselling series.

"How delicious to have Jackson Brodie back, this time in a story that starts off in Agatha Christie's world but soon becomes a landscape that could only have been crafted from the pen of the incomparable Kate Atkinson."-Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus Novels

Welcome to Rook Hall. The stage is set. The players are ready. By night's end, a murderer will be revealed.

Ex-detective Jackson Brodie is staving off a bad case of mid-life malaise when he is called to a sleepy Yorkshire town, and the seemingly tedious matter of a stolen painting.

But Jackson soon uncovers a string of unsolved art thefts that lead him down a dizzying spiral of disguise and deceit to Burton Makepeace, a formerly magnificent estate now partially converted into a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends.

As paying guests, impecunious aristocrats and old friends collide, we are treated to Atkinson's most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre--from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building.

Brilliantly inventive, with all of Atkinson's signature wit, wordplay, and narrative brio, Death at the Sign of the Rook may be Jackson Brodie's most outrageous and memorable case yet.

Review Quotes

"Hilarious. . . Agatha Christie fans will recognize the territory. . . Atkinson's funniest book yet."
--Minnesota Star Tribune

"Harkens back to classic detective fiction. . . [Brodie's] sixth adventure [is] open to all - to Atkinson aficionados who will lap up this latest installment in the series, and to newcomers who can enjoy it as both a standalone work and a suitable entry-point to Brodie's world. . . Boldly original. . . Gripping. . . Atkinson at her most playful. She impresses with her tightly constructed, satisfyingly complex mystery laced with Agatha Christie references, and with her observations of modern life and human nature"
--The Boston Globe

"[The] singular greatness [of the Jackson Brodie series] lies in Atkinson's celebration of coincidence and fortuity, her wayward plots whose threads become cunningly entwined, and, not least, her mordant wit. . . Atkinson's brilliant wit, dark humor and undimmed relish for human awfulness are still very much intact and are displayed throughout [DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK]. . . Highly entertaining"
--The Washington Post

"One needn't have read Kate Atkinson's five (!) prior novels featuring the wry, caddish, more-than-a-little-haunted ex-detective Jackson Brodie to delight in her latest. . . A very British caper, warmly funny and delightfully involving."
--Vogue

"Deliciously witty. . . Atkinson keeps things fast, funny, and fair, delivering a twist-filled mystery that will stump armchair sleuths and a well-sketched supporting cast that's easy to fall in love with. This is sure to delight series fans and newcomers alike."
--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

"A treat for fans of the series."
--Booklist

About the Author

KATE ATKINSON is one of the world's foremost novelists whose most recent novel was the critically acclaimed Shrines of Gaiety, set in the aftermath of the First World War. She won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her three critically lauded and prize- winning novels set around the Second World War are Life After Life, a worldwide bestseller, A God in Ruins (both winners of the Costa Novel Award) and Transcription. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in 2011 and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.