Case Histories

Three year old Olivia disappeared from the tent she was sleeping in with her older sister in the backyard in 1970.  In 1994, Laura had agreed to work in her father’s law office.  On her first day, a crazed man had entered the office in search of her father, drew a knife, slashed one of the partners on the arm and Laura on the neck, killing her.  In 1979, Michelle got frustrated with her husband and put an axe into his head.

On the same day thirty-four years after Olivia disappeared, Olivia’s two older sisters ask private detective Jackson Brodie to investigate her disappearance, he also received a call from the father of Laura.

Later, the sister of Michelle approaches Jackson to try and locate Michelle’s daughter, who seems to have disappeared.  It is after this that Jackson has a minor traffic accident because somebody had tampered with his brakes.  Later his house explodes, fortunately he had just left it, so other than losing everything, he was okay.

Author Kate Atkinson uses each of these threads and weaves them into a very unique story.  She is very mysterious as to how things are solved.