Death at the sign of the rook

The sixth in this popular series starring ex-cop and current Yorkshire private eye Jackson Brodie involves a string of art thefts in wealthy homes on the moors. It also features a "Murder Mystery Weekend" that goes comically off the rails at Rook Hall, a country house hotel on the grounds of the stately home whose owners have been forced to endure the public to stay solvent. First, the children of a recently deceased woman approach Brodie about a Renaissance portrait of a woman that was snipped out of its frame shortly after their mother's death. Next, Lady Milton of the stately home, a delightfully comic character in her Edwardian-era snobbery, hires Brodie to investigate a similar theft, this time of a Turner painting, made after her husband's death. In each theft, a trusted employee vanishes at the same time as the painting. Are the disappearances connected, or did murder precede each art theft? A lack of background about Brodie could make this confusing for new readers, but it's a treat for fans of the series.

Atkinson's deliciously witty sixth adventure for Jackson Brodie (after Big Sky) finds the British PI entangled in a weekend-long murder mystery party. Brodie's newest clients are Ian and Hazel Padgett, "pensionable-aged" siblings who have discovered, while divvying up their deceased mother's possessions, that one of her oil paintings has gone missing. With the help of his friend, Det. Const. Reggie Chase, Brodie digs into the siblings' suspicions that their mother's caretaker, Melanie Hope, swiped the heirloom. Soon, Brodie and Chase's investigation unearths art thefts linked to Burton Makepeace House, a crumbling mansion recently converted into a hotel and managed by the self-aggrandizing Piers Milton. Brodie and Chase head to Burton Makepeace and start poking around while an elaborate "Murder Mystery Weekend" event that Piers has organized is underway; before long, a snowstorm strands the duo with the participants and knocks out everyone's cell reception. Atkinson keeps things fast, funny, and fair, delivering a twist-filled mystery that will stump armchair sleuths and a well-sketched supporting cast that's easy to fall in love with. This is sure to delight series fans and newcomers alike. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (Sept.)

In his sixth outing, Jackson Brodie finds himself trapped in an Agatha Christie novel that is also a Jackson Brodie novel. The story begins with Jackson attending a murder-mystery weekend at "one of England's premier stately homes." Lady Milton, the doyenne of Burton Makepeace House, is confused by the large cast of characters. The private investigator himself can't wait for this farce to be over. "It hasn't even begun properly yet," Detective Constable Regina Chase informs him. This setup is as delicious as it is improbable; there is no one in popular fiction less likely to enjoy a whodunit starring Reverend Smallbones and Countess Voranskaya than Atkinson's world-weary (but intensely empathetic) private investigator. Before we get a chance to see how this situation unfolds, though, the narrative jumps backward a week to introduce Jackson's latest clients. Hazel and Ian, the twin offspring of the late Dorothy Padgett, have hired the former police detective because someone--probably Dorothy's carer--has stolen a Renaissance painting that hung in her bedroom. Next, Atkinson reintroduces Lady Milton, whose estate boasted a Turner until someone--probably the housekeeper--absconded with it. This chapter, which is just over 20 pages, is followed by a chapter spent in the company of Reverend Simon Cate. This is 16 pages that feels like a lot more. Rereading the opening scene at this point gives one the sense that Atkinson is describing her own novel: There are too many characters, and it's a bit slow. This is funny in the way that Atkinson is often funny, but the critique stands. By the time he returns, even Jackson seems attenuated. Reading about him reading about art theft is about as exciting as it sounds. The pace does pick up, eventually, and fans who stick around will get what they came for. Even when she's not at her best, Atkinson is still pretty good. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.