Fiction Pick of the Week: Started Early, Took My Dog

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

Set in Leeds, England this is the fourth book in what has become a series of literary crime novels featuring, Jackson Brodie a “semi-retired” private detective. His current client is an adoptee, Hope McMaster, who hires him to search for her roots, as it seems she has sprung from nowhere. Crimes and murders committed in the 1970s flip to the present where Tracy Waterhouse, who like Brodie is a former police officer, finds herself entangled in the web of intrigue that ensues.

Tracy makes a snap decision that in one rash moment places her on the other side of the law and consequently on the run. Brodie likewise makes a snap decision that is quite out of character when a small dog crosses his path.

Atkinson knits together the plots and subplots with extraordinary style, and her sense of humour lurks around the darkness of her themes. Her characters will chill you and thrill you. As a former winner of the Whitbread Award for Behind the Scenes at the Museum Atkinson has triumphed yet again. You really must read this book.