Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

review by Maryom

Jackson Brodie, ex- police inspector turned private detective, has three old Case Histories on his hands: - in 1970, after spending the night sleeping out in their garden in a tent with her older sister, 3 year old Olivia goes missing.Despite a police search there are no clues as to what occurred until many years later when amongst their recently deceased father's belongings her sisters Amelia and Julia discover Olivia's favourite toy, Blue Mouse, believed to have disappeared with her ; - in 1979, Michelle, a young mother kills her husband. While in jail she cuts off all contact with her family but now her sister Shirley is trying to trace her and her now grown-up baby ; - and in1994 teenager Laura Wyre was helping out in her father's office and murdered seemingly at random by a knife-wielding man who was never caught. Her father Theo has tried for 10 years to track down the culprit but with no success and has now decided to enlist the help of Jackson Brodie.
Jackson also has several missing cats to trace and an airhostess, believed by her husband to be having an affair, to follow. And if he can find time, there's his relationship with his ex-wife to sort out ... and someone intent on causing him grievous bodily harm, perhaps even trying to kill him!

That's a tremendous number of storylines to juggle and keep all up in the air but Kate Atkinson pulls it off with seeming ease. Actually the movements of a folk dance might be a better comparison - the plots move along together, then separate and circle round before coming together again. At the centre of them all is Jackson Brodie, sometimes seeming bemused by all the things happening around him, sometimes feeling like he's the one calling out the moves.

It's taken me a long while to get round to reading this, the first of the Jackson Brodie novels. I didn't read Case Histories when it first came out but jumped into the series at book 2, One Good Turn, and then bought the third, When Will There Be Good News? Having seen the TV adaptation, I determined to go back and read the whole series in order but at the time the library was overwhelmed by demand for Case Histories. I was reminded of my plan when I read about Subtle Melodrama's Scottish Summer reading challenge and, although I'm not absolutely sure that it qualifies, decided to revive it. So I'll soon be reading the two books I own and hopefully have time to borrow the fourth, Started Early, Took My Dog, before the challenge ends.

As with so many TV/film adaptations various things had been changed and moved around - I was very surprised to discover that Case Histories is NOT set in Edinburgh  - but much further south in Cambridge. It also seemed far darker than its TV counterpart being more of an exploration of loss and guilt that a simple whodunnit. A compelling read whether you've seen the TV version or not. I'm off now to read the rest of Jackson's story...

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Black Swan (Transworld)

Genre - crime, adult fiction, TV tie-in

Buy Case Histories: (Jackson Brodie) from Amazon

Stonemouth by Iain Banks

review by Maryom

Stonemouth is a seaside town in the North-east of Scotland with a long sandy beach stretching into the distance, a suspension bridge from which a high number of people fall - or are pushed - and two rather kindly paternalistic mafia-style families in charge.

5 years ago, Stewart Gilmour made a mistake and managed to so offend the Murston family that he had to leave town - in a very speedy, very undignified manner. Now he's been allowed back to attend the funeral of  Joe Murston, but with younger angrier family members around still looking for revenge, Stewart doesn't feel too sure about his own long-term health. Could returning be an even bigger mistake?

Stonemouth is one of Iain Banks' more straightforward stories, told solely from Stewart's point of view with flashbacks to his childhood and teen years - there's none of the alternative personalities or multiple narrators of some of his more complex novels. After years of running away, Stewart needs to face the scene of his crime and the people he offended. The reader is teased along with gradual revelations of the relationship between Stewart and Ellie, the girl he's always loved - with a big build up to why he had to leave in such a hurry. On a first read this should come as a big surprise BUT Iain Banks himself gave it away - well almost. A while ago he came to our almost-local Waterstones as part of the promotion tour for Stonemouth, which is where and when I bought my book, a signed copy!! Anyway, as part of the evening he read an extract from the book and immediately upon getting home I tracked  it down in the book and re-read it.... and a page or two extra - this was the big scene that everything was building up to!! Ok there are more twists and turns to the plot after that but I really shouldn't have read this section first.

It's not as great or as complex as The Crow Road or The Bridge, which are my personal Banks' favourites, and not as convoluted as the last I read, Transition, but it's an entertaining fast-paced read of love, betrayal and revenge. An excellent introduction to Iain Banks if for some mysterious reason you haven't discovered him yet.

Another read to include in Subtle Melodrama's Scottish Summer Reading Challenge.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Little, Brown
Genre - adult fiction

 Buy Stonemouth from Amazon

A Cool Head by Ian Rankin

Short but not Sweet
review by Maryom

Gravy likes to help out his friend Benjy whenever he can by keeping things safe for him, hiding them in the cemetery grounds where he works. But then one day Benjy turns up with a gun in one bag, a huge stash of cash in another - and a bullet in his chest. Gravy finds himself caught in a web of gangland intrigue with several 'hard men' trying to recover the money, each with their own personal reasons to cover up events.
A Cool Head is one of the Quick Reads series but at just over 100 pages it manages to pack is as many twists and turns as many a longer novel. The plot is satisfyingly complex. The characters are convincing and well-developed, even if some are a little stereotypical - the gangland boss who owns a scrapyard for easy disposal of  incriminating evidence; the 'going straight' brother running a casino.

An ideal read if you're looking for something short and snappy.

This is yet another book I picked it up through Bookcrossing and it's sat on my TBR pile for a year or more - glad I've got round to reading it at last!

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - adult crime thriller, may appeal to older teens/YA

Buy A Cool Head (Quick Reads) from Amazon

A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil by Christopher Brookmyre

With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
review by Maryom

When two inexpertly disposed-of dead bodies are discovered  DS Karen Gillespie feels like she's returned to her schooldays. Not only was one of the bodies a class mate but the two chief suspects were as well... and the celebrity lawyer that one of them persuades to help for old times' sake ....and the pub landlady that the lawyer tries to pump for information and other things. The clues to the murderer's identity are not going to be found by the normal processes of forensics and interrogation of suspects but by delving into the shared past of these characters. While DS Gillespie uncovers a trail of corruption in the local planning department, it seems that more hinges on what these people got up to back in primary school.

Despite the whodunnit crime novel set up most of the story is told in flashbacks to the characters' schooldays - sometimes funny, sometimes painful look back at childhood and the influences it has on later 'grown-up' life.
If you like your humour dark and twisted, you'll love this - the opening scenes of totally inept body disposal were some of the funniest things I've read in ages.

Warning - a lot of the language throughout is robust, colourful or crude, depending on your viewpoint - maybe to be expected in the fumbling idiots trying to dispose of the bodies in the opening scene but not so much from a group of  5 year olds just starting at primary school.

This book has been sitting on the TBR pile for a long long while. Having read and immensely enjoyed Brookmyre's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye, I bought this one for my hubby, who decided it wasn't his kind of thing (!) and I've been meaning to read it myself ever since. So glad I did!

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Little, Brown
Genre - Crime, humour

Buy A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil from Amazon

Scottish Summer Reading Challenge with Subtle Melodrama

 post by Maryom

 A while ago, I signed up for a Scottish Summer Reading Challenge on the Subtle Melodrama blog. The aim is to read as many books by Scottish authors as possible over the next three months.








 Now I doubt whether I'll be reading nothing but Scottish authors for that period but I've been saving some up for the event...





....and I have a number of books and short stories downloaded to the pc -by Gillian Philip and Catherine Czercawska among others



....some on order from the library -


....

...and if I get through all of those, I'll start on some old favourites from my shelves.



 I'll set up a page soon for my reviews so you can follow my progress.