Death at the Sign of the Rook, The Summer after the Funeral and The Photograph

 

Who would have thought that I would give a Kate Atkinson book two stars. I have read all her novels (some get my rare five stars) so this was a big disappointment. I liked all the previous five Jackson Brodie books so I wondered why this one was so poor. Well to start with Jackson is now seventy years old, still a private investigator (time he retired), and hardly appears in the story. He is supposed to be looking into the supposed theft of a painting for Hazel and Ian that may or may not be valuable. Their elderly mother's carer Melanie has disappeared. Jackson is on her trail.

At the huge mansion, now in poor condition, of Burton Makepeace lives Lady Milton. She lost a Turner painting a couple of years before so are the two connected? Housekeeper Sophie has also scarpered. To spin out this tedious and unoriginal plot, we divert to local vicar Simon Cate and then Fran and George who live in a cottage on the Burton Makepeace estate. Along with Fran's brother Ben, a young army officer injured in Helmand. I'm not sure about all this superflous stuff, the book does not seem to have made up it's mind about what it is.

It's detective constable Reggie Chase (who we have met in previous books) who takes centre stage (thank goodness) as she looks into the latest missing painting where Jackson is already on the case. He is on surveillance, ruminating on life, sitting in his posh Land Rover Defender and listening (the only music referenced in the book) to the late Nanci Griffith's album "The Last of the True Believers". (See my post of 16th August 2021).

So then we get to the long spun out conclusion that involves a Murder Mystery weekend at Burton Makepeace with a bunch of sorry, out of work actors. And a snowfall that means some do not arrive but other characters do. Of course all the main people come together in the end. It all descends into farce, but not in a good way. It may be that TV might develop the story even though Brodie is left on the sidelines. Maybe they would also get some of the sloppy prose corrected, "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold". No, served! That's not the only one. One of the reviewers here said they gave up around page 150. I wish I had. There also seem to be many long term fans of Kate Atkinson books that have also given this book the thumbs down.

Sixteen year old Athene is at a loss after her clergyman father dies. It means that she, her mother, sisters and brother have to leave the vicarage. It's the start of the school holidays so the children are palmed off to various distant relatives and friends. We follow Athene, Sebastian and Phoebe over the next few weeks. So this is actually a book for older children, but written with the expected panache from this, one of my favourite authors.

Athene is dispatched to an aunt (Posie) who is hardly welcoming at her seaside hotel. Athene Price is memorable for her being so attractive and being too good to be true. It's her we follow for most of the book. Later in August, she goes to stay in the North East with at first, Sybil Bowles and then older Primrose, Here it becomes all to much and she just leaves. By the quayside she meets an artist and stays.

All this time her sister is somewhere else. "My name is Beams, short for Moonbeams (big glasses), Phoebe at the font. Ugly as sin. Alas for me". Opposite to her sister, so not an attractive child. But boy can she write. This is her diary (the best part of the book) absolutely hilarious. Brilliant. Palmed off on the Padshaws near Rhyl. When at six her father takes her to see a shrink she writes "I love untidy rooms usually - not like Athene who's always putting paper clips into envelopes and straitening the fire tongs". (whoever could be that tidy?)

And lastly Sebastian staying at an Anglican community with his friend Lucien. It's only later we hear his wonderful conversation with 80 year old Father Ignatious But soon we are back to Athene, arriving at Auntie Barbara's boarding school. Obviously no children and more to the pint, No Barbara. Only one young master marking exam papers. Another excellent chapter, the book has seemed to improve as it went on. They (nearly) all meet up at the end, relatives and all.

When sixty year old Glyn comes across a sealed envelope belonging to his dead wife Kath he finds the words "Don't Open - Destr0y". So what would you do? Inside is a photograph of Kath holding hands with another man, years ago. The whole novel is based on Glyn's search for the truth. ("The past is another country"). There are other people in the photograph and Glyn is off to see them.

But before that we hear about Glyn's background and his success in archeology and TV work. Kath, we find, does not really have a career. Her beauty seems to carry her through life. But her sister Elaine does. A garden designer with a successful horticultural business. Her husband Nick always has plans they but they never come to fruition. And he's the man in the photo with Kath. Elaine is the driven, starting "in that bedsit in Chiswick". (Could that be the same as mine in the sixties?)

The book intertwines stories of all the main characters as Glyn tries to uncover the life of his ex-wife ("the project seems to occupy his every spare moment") when he was always travelling with his work. "My concern is purely forensic". Or is it? The fall out from his conversations with friends occupies the latter part of the book. It is well constructed and nicely written.