It has been a while since I read a book by Kate Atkinson and I had forgotten how different, random, unusual, her style of writing is.
It reminds me of a Ronnie Corbett sketch where he always seems to get sidetracked whilst recounting his story, often missing the punchline.
With Death at the sign of the rook, I found I was just getting involved in the story and one set of characters when the halter ended and a new set of characters and situations were introduced.
This read certainly kept me on my toes and awake for longer than usual. Once I got used to the quirky style I enjoyed the read.

Oh what a treat, a new Jackson Brodie book from Kate Atkinson. ‘Death at the Sign of the Rook’ is sixth in this fast-moving, witty character-led crime series. This time, Jackson is on the trail of a stolen painting. Or perhaps it hasn’t been stolen after all.
New grandfather Jackson, in the midst of a mid-life crisis and driving a huge new Land Rover Defender, takes on the case of a missing painting belonging to the recently deceased mother of the most boring brother and sister. As he investigates Dorothy Padgett’s carer Melanie Hope, who disappeared at the same time as ‘The Woman with a Weasel,’ Brodie finds other unsolved cases involving stolen paintings. Could they be linked? Jackson is reunited with police officer Reggie Chase who helps – checking things on the police computer, despite her misgivings – and the duo become pulled into a surreal world of a dual reality.
Burton Makepeace, a rundown Yorkshire country mansion, has also lost a painting, in this case by JMW Turner. Now partly converted into a hotel, Burton Makepeace is hosting a Murder Mystery Weekend and as the snowfall turns into waist-high drifts, travellers are stranded and the murders begin. Truth and fiction become entangled as a group of actors are let loose in the large country house with endless rooms, hidden stairs and dangerous battlements. Local vicar Simon, who has recently lost his voice, gets lost in the snow and stumbles into the Murder Mystery, immediately to be confused by the amateur sleuths as the fictional vicar on their cast list. At times I read in a haze of confusion as real people and actors merged; a social comment on today’s perception of truth, sort-of-truth and fake truth perpetuated by social media. How do we know what is really true and who to believe. Jackson, with the help of Reggie, has to sort out truth from lies and work out who’s who. The cast of characters is a combination of Agatha Christie and Cluedo.
Told at breakneck speed, so many laughs, what a wonderful book. Only Kate Atkinson could write this story, wonderful craftsmanship, tension, farce, wicked humour and dark threat. It starts off racing from the first page and doesn’t stop until the last.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Ive been a fan of Kate Atkinson's writing since "behind the scenes at the museum" and Jackson Brodie has been a particular favourite, so it was great to meet up with him again. Sadly I didn't enjoy this as much as the others and the gothic horror/Agatha Christie mashup didn't really work for me. However, I look forward to the next publication from the ingenious mind of this author
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

Jackson Brodie novels are how I was first introduced to Kate Atkinson and it has been a pleasure to read all her work ever since. A new Jackson Brodie novel is always a delight and this does not disappoint with an eccentric cast of characters linked by a number of missing paintings and culminating in a snowy Murder mystery weekend. This starts off slowly but the final third comes to a very dramatic close. I really enjoyed it.

I didn't realise until I was part way through that this was the latest book in a series (I just saw the author and asked for the book to review as I've loved the other books of hers I'd read). I had been feeling that I was missing information as I'd been going along and this explained why. I generally try to avoid reading a series out of order and I think I would definitely have got into the book a lot quicker had I read the earlier books.

That said, I did enjoy it. It's a good quality mystery story with many threads that somehow, are all drawn together by the end of the book. What I liked about it was that many of the bit-part players have small but important roles in the wider narrative and this meant that every scrap of information offered took on significance.

As always with Atkinson's books, this is beautifully written and there are plenty of deftly administered humorous touches. The relationship between Brodie and Reggie was particularly fun to read and I really took Lady Milton to heart. Even the less likeable characters come across really well and are interestingly wicked rather than just plain bad. As a fan of the interactive murder mystery, I especially liked the behind the scenes shenanigans with the acting company - I think anyone who has attended these events, recognises the various actor 'tropes', most notably the lead actor who seems to be just a little bit 'too' into his part.

Having come to this series at its most recent, I will probably go back to the beginning and read the earlier books as well.

Although I have read and enjoyed many Kate Atkinson books, this was my first time dipping a toe into her Jackson Brodie series. Despite not having read any of the earlier books, I did not feel like I was at a loss, the character was quickly established and any pertinent details were woven into the narrative as it played out. There are two main story threads that of course weave together as the book unfolds. The first follows Jackson as he is hired by the children of a recently deceased woman in order to track down a stolen, potentially valuable, painting which was apparently taken by their mother's carer. The second plot line involves a murder mystery weekend at Burton Makepeace, once a magnificent country house but now a struggling enterprise desperately turning to novelty events in order to make ends meet. This reads like an homage to classic mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie, and that is no accident.
There is a lot going on in this book, the cast of characters is not short and there are also a couple of different timelines to keep track of, which meant that at times I struggled a little and found myself checking back to remind myself which took me out of the book a little. I enjoyed Brodie as a character, particularly his interplay with Reggie, the police officer, and I think I would definitely like to try one of the earlier books in the series for comparison. Several of the secondary characters were also great, most notably army veteran Ben and the somewhat outrageous dowager Lady Milton, who is clearly struggling to come to terms with the change in her fortunes. While I loved the characters I thought the plot felt a little overly convoluted at times, perhaps in an effort to tie the two stories together and cram in the Christie style references the author had to push things a little too far and there is just a little too much reliance on coincidence for my taste.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Rating: 2.4/5

I was really looking forward to reading "Death at the Sign of the Rook" after I had seen the accompanying synopsis. A play within a play (or, at least, a murder mystery within a murder mystery) with a classic "Golden Age" style setting, penned by a talented author, but, ultimately, I found it somewhat disappointing.

On the plus side, there is some very clever writing (as you would expect from Kate Atkinson) and there are regular sprinklings of witty humour, particularly in the exchanges between Jackson Brodie and Reggie Chase. However, overall, I couldn't help thinking that the book was guilty of trying to be too clever for its own good. There is quite an extensive cast list and the plot leans towards the complex side, particularly when the wandering time frame is added into the mix. Not that I mind complexity in the least. Indeed, there is something very satisfying about a complicated whodunnit - providing it ultimately hangs together, makes sense and succeeds in taking the reader along on the journey of discovery. But that is where I felt that this novel came up short. There were too many occasions where it seemed a little self-indulgent rather than remaining audience-focussed.

I have little doubt that I will return to read Kate Atkinson's work again, but this was not one of my favourites.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Death At The Sign Of The Rook is the sixth book in the popular Jackson Brodie series by award-winning best-selling British author, Kate Atkinson. When Dorothy Padgett dies, Jackson is asked by her twins, Hazel and Ian, to look for a painting missing from her bedroom.

It’s a Renaissance-era portrait and they claim not to know if it’s worth anything, but want it back for sentimental reasons. They believe that Dorothy’s carer, Melanie Hope took it when she left but they don’t want to involve the police, and Jackson feels there’s something decidedly shifty about the pair.

He quickly deduces Melanie’s phone is a burner, checks out the address (fake), chases the painting’s provenance (something dodgy there too) and then does a little research into art theft. A couple of interesting items online have him wondering if the same woman is posing in roles that virtually guarantee her invisibility (cleaner, carer, housekeeper) and then making off with valuable artwork.

One of the thefts was from Burton Makepeace House, the home of the Marquess and Marchioness Milton, and DC Reggie Chase investigated without success. A call from Jackson Brodie, about this, or anything, isn’t really welcome: “Jackson Brodie’s MO was disruption. His attitude to the law was like that of a Wild West sheriff. All that coincidence-being-an-explanation-waiting-to-happen baloney was just a cover for not following procedure.”

“She was reluctant to let him back into her life. He constituted part of the mess out there on the mean streets. Whenever she saw him, he brought a tsunami of it in his wake that would have defeated Marie Kondo.” But what he tells her is certainly intriguing…

Atkinson’s plot is interesting and topical, and before Reggie and Jackson find themselves in the midst of a Murder Mystery Weekend where not all the corpses are actors, and not all the guns are props, there is a visit to a funeral parlour and a crusty old neighbour, and Nancy Styles novels left behind. Atkinson throws a snowstorm and a murderous prison escapee into the mix just to add a bit more excitement. By the time DCS Louise Monroe and her team turn up, Reggie has been reminded that Jackson “was always making the distinction between justice and the law. She was always trying not to.”

But Atkinson’s strength is her characters and some of their inner monologues are an absolute joy, filled with dry British (and often very black) humour and understatement. Jackson’s narrative is peppered with Julia’s (previously delivered or else anticipated, but inevitably critical) comments, or those of what he calls his “pop-up Court of Women” any time female issues come up, while Reggie is often plagued by Jackson Brodie comments.

Atkinson carefully builds up her characters until the reader is invested in them and really cares about their fate. Of those characters, Honoria Milton delights while Ben and Simon pull at the heartstrings. There is humour, too, in certain situations and the snappy dialogue, with its tangents and asides, including many laugh-out-loud moments.

Atkinson has a wonderful way with words and some of her passages are superbly evocative and vividly descriptive. While it is not essential to have read the earlier books of this series, denying yourself that pleasure is surely cruel. This is another Atkinson masterpiece.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld.

A new Jackson Brodie is always a treat. As expected of the magnificent Kate Atkinson, this novel is clever and packed full of brilliantly complex characters that we come to understand from the inside. The plot was complex and stitched together beautifully. However, although reliance on coincidence is celebrated, I found credibility stretched a little too thin in this outing and the plot suffered as a consequence. Lovers of Agatha Christie novels will love this play on a country house mystery. Despite loving the writing and becoming reacquainted with Brodie ( I would, actually, have liked more of him), I didn’t enjoy the element of farce and the country house characters that leaned too heavily into caricature.

This is the first Jackson Brodie book I have read but this story worked well as a stand alone novel. I was looking forward to reading this after the first chapter but many characters and seemly timelines were introduced quickly and I became quite confused. I did persevere with the book as it was well written and the dialog humorous. I am glad I did as I began to become more acquainted with the characters. The plot was quite complicated but well imagined in the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the advance copy of this book.

I’ve enjoyed the Jackson Brodie novels in the past so was looking forward to reading this new one which has appeared after a long gap.
Jackson is that much older and is asked to investigate the theft of a painting by the heirs of elderly Dorothy who has recently passed away. Her carer is suspected and Jackson sets out to trace her.
There is also another part of the plot which centres on a stately home and its aristocratic occupants. They are holding a murder mystery evening in the middle of a snow storm. Throw in an escaped prisoner an injured army major, an elderly vicar who has lost his faith and another stolen painting, “Death at the Sign of the Rook” seems to turn into a weird sort of french farce. There were so many characters and plot strands in different time frames that I found it rather confusing and difficult to work out what was going on. I must admit I skim read some sections of the book, particularly the murder mystery parts as I found them a tad tedious.
The denouement was also strange and motivations hard to fathom.
I did think some of the main characters were well portrayed, particularly Simon, the vicar and Ben , the injured major. Hazel and Ian, the heirs, were unfortunately rather two dimensional!
I remember being thoroughly engrossed in the earlier Jackson Brodie novels but I’m afraid this one did not do it for me and I couldn’t wait to get to the end. I just think the author was trying to be too clever and it really didn’t work or hold my interest.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson begins so well I thought that I was in for a treat. But sadly, as I read on I was disappointed. I was looking forward to reading more about Jackson Brodie, but he only has a minor role. It is amusing in parts. But there are so many other characters, and the story became far too long winded, the narrative jumping around from one set of characters to another, and then another, which made it confusing. The ending was just pure farce, which I've never liked, pushing it into the absurd.

Looking back at some of Kate Atkinson's other books I've read I see I had the same reaction to her previous book, Shrines of Gaiety. My favourite books by her are Life After Life and A God in Ruins, both of which I loved.

It’s so nice to meet an old friend again, and Jackson Brodie really does feel like an old friend. I’ve followed his career with great enjoyment since ‘Case Histories’, the first book in the series. ‘Death at the Sign of the Rook’ could be read as a standalone, and it’s a lovely palate cleanser between heavier books.

The plot is a twist on the country house mystery, but for me the strength of Kate Atkinson’s writing lies in her characters: Jackson himself and his sort of sidekick Reggie, Simon the silent vicar and Sophie, the mysterious woman at the heart of the story. The ‘Woman with a Weasel’, though not a corporate entity, casts a spell over the whole book.

This book is just so much fun, I highly recommend it.
Many thanks to Transworld and Netgalley for the proof.

I was really looking forward to reading another Kate Atkinson book. But I found this one quite confusing. The narrative jumped between people and timelines as well as different crimes. But it could very well have been made more difficult by the fact that I have not read any of her previous Jackson Brodie crime novels. I will have to give those a read.

Joy abounding, Brodie mellowed, Chase triumphant

Reading a Kate Atkinson always has me infected by her joyous vivacity, vitality and humour, which runs through even the darkest of landscapes. This Brodie and Chase outing though, is not, in truth, that dark, as the trope inhabited is that of the country house murder (or other crime) mystery, and has many fond and glorious nods to the golden age of cosy crime.

Jackson Brodie and Reggie Chase have certainly moved through darker, murkier waters previously. In this one, the territory is the art theft world, and a more day to day inhabitation of human greed, family dysfunction, misplaced sense of entitlement and class – if not quite warfare, then certainly a kind of Robin Hood versus those with much more money and much less sense of fairness. So we, as readers, will certainly have more warmth towards the Robin Hoods – and so will Jackson Brodie

For readers who have never read any of Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie books before, this can of course brilliant be enjoyed as a standalone. As there have been long gaps between Atkinson’s journeys between the inevitably maverick policeman turned private investigator and his within-the-force sometimes partner, feisty young Reggie (Regina) Chase possibly many readers – including this one – may have forgotten the minutiae of previous outings anyway. Atkinson helpfully reminds in, in an ongoing way, of some of them as we travel along, as inevitably memories of the past for anyone, inhabit their minds in the present. All our pasts are present for us, in the now, even though some of our pasts are consciously forgotten.

Like all Atkinson’s book, her writings are deep, and also a romp!

Unfortunately, she then can make other writers seem a little pale and less than three dimensional for a while, so I had to abandon the next work of fiction I picked up, and wean myself away from expecting Atkinson’s multi-dimensional habitations, with non-fiction

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I have enjoyed previous books in the Jackson Brodie series and other titles by Kate Atkinson. This book started slowly for me and I found dome of the characters confusing as the storyline changed its perspective. However, it is a good murder mystery with a slightly surprising outcome.

The Jackson Brodie series is one of my favourites because of Kate Atkinson's careful narrative style, the complexity of the protagonist and the variety of the characters. In this sixth instalment, "Death at the Sign of the Rook", many of these characteristics are present, except for the development of Jackson Brodie's character, of whom we know nothing new about his family and emotional life.
The book begins very well for my taste, as we are introduced to a wide cast of characters: a vicar who has lost his faith, an ex-serviceman with post-traumatic stress disorder, and an aristocratic family on the decline. This introductory part, though rich in detail and depth, seems to have been less appreciated by other readers.
The central plot revolves around the theft of some works of art, a subject that in itself is not particularly intriguing. Rather, it seems to be a pretext for bringing all the characters together, including Jackson Brodie. Despite this, Atkinson's interweaving of the individual stories remains admirable.
The climax of the novel comes at the end, where all the characters converge in one location during an evening of "Investigate a Murder". This part is played out with humour and pays clear homage to Agatha Christie. However, it didn't quite fill me. I had the feeling that the ultimate aim was more to provoke laughter than to resolve the plot in a satisfactory way.
All in all, although the author's quality shows, I found this instalment a little disappointing. The lack of development in Brodie's personal life and a central plot that I didn't find intriguing enough meant that I didn't enjoy the novel as much as I had hoped. However, Atkinson's ability to create complex characters and lively situations is still evident.
Many thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers - Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy for review.

La serie de Jackson Brodie es una de mis favoritas por el cuidado estilo narrativo de Kate Atkinson, la complejidad del protagonista y lo variado de sus personajes. En esta sexta entrega, "Death at the Sign of the Rook", están presentes muchas de estas características, salvo el desarrollo del personaje de Jackson Brodie, del que no sabemos nada nuevo sobre su vida familiar y afectiva.
El libro comienza muy bien para mi gusto, ya que nos presenta un amplio elenco de personajes: un vicario que ha perdido su fe, un exmilitar con estrés postraumático y una familia aristocrática venida a menos. Esta parte introductoria, aunque rica en detalles y profundidad, parece haber sido menos apreciada por otros lectores.
La trama central gira en torno al robo de unas obras de arte, un tema que en sí mismo no resulta especialmente intrigante. Más bien, parece ser un pretexto para unir a todos los personajes, incluido Jackson Brodie. A pesar de ello, la forma en que Atkinson entrelaza las historias individuales sigue siendo admirable.
El clímax de la novela tiene lugar al final, donde todos los personajes convergen en una misma ubicación durante una velada de "Investiga un asesinato". Esta parte se desarrolla con humor y rinde un claro homenaje a Agatha Christie. Sin embargo, a mí no me terminó de llenar. Tuve la sensación de que el objetivo final era más provocar risas que resolver la trama de manera satisfactoria.
En resumen, aunque la calidad de la autora se nota, esta entrega me ha resultado un poco decepcionante. La falta de desarrollo en la vida personal de Brodie y una trama central que no me pareció suficientemente intrigante hicieron que no disfrutara de la novela tanto como esperaba. Sin embargo, la habilidad de Atkinson para crear personajes complejos y situaciones llenas de vida sigue siendo evidente.
Muchas gracias a Random House UK, Transworld Publishers - Doubleday y NetGalley por facilitarme una copia digital para su revisión.

This is a delightfully fun, comic, entertaining offering from Kate Atkinson, featuring her former cop and PI Jackson Brodie and DC Reggie Chase, based in Yorkshire, with Brodie in and out of Tatiana's abode. Brodie has new clients, siblings Ian and Hazel Padgett who want him to locate their recently deceased mother, Dorothy's missing Renaissance painting, Woman with a Weasel, which has been taken from her home. It is presumed to have been taken by Dorothy's carer, but there is something about his clients that has Brodie suspicious of them. In this story with its echoes of the golden age of crime and Agatha Christie, we have art, pillage, false identity and more. there is another art theft at Burton Makepeace.

Reggie is called in to the estate after a missing artwork and a missing housekeeper and companion, someone the Dowager Lady Milton was more fond of than her own ghastly children. Brodie feels there just might be a connection with his own case as he gets in touch with a Reggie he thinks of as family. We get introduced to a range of characters that include the PTSD suffering ex-military Major Ben Jennings, mired in depression after the loss of his leg in Afghanistan, now residing with his compassionate sister, and the offbeat, unable to speak vicar, Simon Cate. It is snowing heavily, there is a escaped armed two cop killer roaming free in the area, whilst at Rook Hall, guests have arrived for a murder-mystery weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

As might be predicted, murders, shambolic mayhem and chaos ensue, as the lines between fact and fiction become hopelessly entangled, whilst Reggie finds herself drawn to a Ben who suddenly finds himself in his element. This is a cracking, well observed, insightful and humorous read where pieces of the puzzle finally come together at the end, this will likely appeal to fans of the author and those new to this terrific series. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

A totally enjoyable murder mystery with an excellent, fast-paced plot, and which winds up as a classic “Country House” detective story. The characters are well-developed, and the dialogue very natural. I was surprised to find myself in tears of laughter in the final quarter of this book, and highly recommend this latest Jackson Brodie book by Kate Atkinson as a great read.

This is the first book in the Jackson Brodie series that I have read and I'm sorry to say I did not enjoy it. It was difficult to get in to and dragged on a lot and I struggled to keep up with who was who.