It all starts (and ends) with a murder mystery dinner. Jackson Brodie is investigating a small painting that an old woman used to have in her bedroom and that mysteriously disappeared the day she died –along with her caregiver, and now prime suspect.
However, that’s not the only painting that has disappeared in similar circumstances in the last few years. And fortunately, our dear DC Reggie Chase was in that case, so she and Brodie start trying to solve the mystery.

I must say there were many parts in which I lost a bit of interest. There were just too many details in the lives of minor characters, and there were a few things that I truly did not understand why were there in the first place (i.e. ‘Nanny’ and the shooter). To me, they felt unnecessary and did not add anything to the plot.

That being said, I love Atkinson’s sense of humor, I love Jackson Brodie and I love Reggie Chase, so of course I will always continue with this series!

3,5 stars!

At this point, I am fully convinced that I will love anything that Kate Atkinson writes. I hadn’t read any of the Jackson Brodie novels up to this point, and I picked this up not knowing anything about the series or the characters, and I loved it! It was full of humor, wit, and fully realized, flawed characters. I fell in love with Jackson and the way his mind works. Even though I hadn’t read any of the other books, it was easy to see what makes him tick and what has drawn so many other readers to this character.

Although Atkinson’s books always tend to have a sad tone, they are also full of humor and hope - making them such a unique reading experience.

After finishing “Death at the Sign of the Rook,” I immediately started “Case Histories,” and I enjoyed it just as much.

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

Jackson Brodie is a grandfather now. He has even provided child care for said granddaughter: “Shattered, knee-deep in nappies and various kinds of bodily fluids, Jackson realized how little he had contributed when his own children were babies.” That fact is incidental to “Death at the Sign of the Rook,” Kate Atkinson’s deliriously readable new mystery, but it says a lot about the head space in which her often disgruntled hero finds himself.

Jackson is older now, on “the wrong side of 60,” and if he hasn’t settled down, he has at least settled. The former police inspector turned private eye may still flinch at not being “real police,” but he’s not unhappy to take a seemingly silly case for the paycheck. Fortunately for him — and us — the case of a missing painting (Jackson refers to it as “Woman With a Weasel”) spirals into a hilariously twisted tale of art theft, the struggling British gentry and a murder-mystery dinner theater gone ridiculously and alarmingly wrong.

A delightful muddle of drawing room mystery, dinner theater and the pursuit of purloined art, “Death at the Sign of the Rook” is Atkinson at her best. Brodie too.

What a fun and funny mystery! This was my first dive into Kate Atkinson’s work and, as such, my introduction to her Jackson Brodie series. Atkinson's wit shines, and the plot is set up like a classic Agatha Christie setup but with a modern feel.

In "Death at the Sign of the Rook," we find Brodie snowed in at a worn-down manor house in the English countryside. As you might expect from such a cozy, locked-room mystery setting, a murder soon disrupts everyone's evening. Brodie, along with his sidekick, must solve the case before the killer strikes again.

The book is smartly written, and the humor really makes it worth reading. It’s not just about the mystery; it’s about the memorable characters who populate the manor, each with their own quirks and secrets. That said, the middle section did feel a little slow at times. With so many characters introduced, it was occasionally hard to keep track of who was who, and I found myself wishing for a bit more focus in the narrative. However, the pacing picked up again toward the end, leading to a satisfying ending.

Despite some slower moments, I really enjoyed Death at the Sign of the Rook and can’t wait to read more from Kate Atkinson. If the rest of the Jackson Brodie series is as witty and well-crafted as this one, it's well worth my time!

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this advanced readers copy. My thoughts and reviews are my own.

Anything by Kate Atkinson is an auto read for me, so I was looking forward to the latest installment in her Jackson Brodie series. This time, the crime is a missing painting, stolen by someone who seems to have disappeared into thin air. In comes Jackson Brodie to investigate. This was a fun, humorous homage to Golden Age mysteries, and I enjoyed all the subplots and different characters. Lady Milton and the Burton Makepeace setting in particular was a highlight. The only thing was that I wasn’t as gripped as I usually am with her books, and the pacing was quite slow till towards the end. Still, it’s a nice change after the brooding nature of the other books in the series.
Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK by Kate Atkinson is a novel featuring Jackson Brodie and was a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for September. Ever curious to meet new characters and knowing Atkinson's strong reputation, I asked for a preview of this recently published book. I felt as though it meandered quite a bit and was not all that surprised to see a Booklist review which concluded: "A lack of background about Brodie could make this confusing for new readers, but it's a treat for fans of the series." I hope to go back and start at the beginning of Atkinson's series about Brodie as this is well-written. Interested readers will find more positive insight from professional reviewers at NPR, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. 3.5 stars

Kate Atkinson is the very best and she can do whatever she likes with whatever characters--but what a dream having Jackson Brodie in an old school murder mystery, complete with his snarky asides. Love Atkinson, love Brodie, too greedy to wait patiently for a couple more years for another book.

I am embarrassed to admit that it took me rather a long time to catch on to the joke in Death At The Sign of the Rook. Kate Atkinson has written a parody of every Agatha Christie, British murder mystery, old country house mystery ever written. Although Death At The Sign of the Rook is the 5th novel in the Jackson Brodie Series, this novel is a stand alone, even though Brodie populates this novel and ultimately solves at least some of the crimes. The characters in Death At The Sign of the Rook are a parody of the characters who readers come to expect in British mysteries. There are police, detectives, a widowed older owner, tourists visiting, a vicar, all of whom are trapped in a country home in the midst of a snow storm. Rooms open into rooms, doors into more doors, real guns and fake guns and a fight on the roof. This country house is like a fun house at a county fair. Every cliche in a British mystery is present, including an escaped prisoner. In short, this was a fun ride. I suspect I will need to read it several more times to get in on the joke.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I hope I have done this novel justice.

Death at the Sign of the Rook
By Kate Atkinson

This is an "Agatha Christie"-style murder mystery. It brings back characters from previous books (Jackson Brodie, Reggie Chase) whose modus operandi seems to remain intact from book to book. Jackson is a policeman turned private detective (relieved of his police duties because of his unconventional methods); Reggie Chase is a policewoman who acts as Jackson's point person when information is needed from the police.

This book begins with the death of the Padgett family matriarch and the discovery that a painting has gone missing. Also missing is the caregiver named Melanie Hope. Jackson is hired by the deceased's children to find both. As the plot progresses it become apparent that there have been other artworks stolen in much the same pattern. Thus we meet the Milton family who have lost a piece of art two years prior until similar circumstances – ostensibly stolen by the vanished housekeeper, Sophie Greenway.

From there, the cast of characters increases and the plot thickens. This is a classic British murder mystery. It is entertaining – and when, at the end, the mystery is solved, readers will find that they knew all along who committed the crime!

‘We invite you to enjoy all the excitement of a Murder Mystery Weekend in the charmingly atmospheric surroundings of Rook Hall, a country house hotel located within Burton Makepeace House, one of England’s premier stately homes.’

DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK might be a new release, but it has all the makings of a well-worn Agatha Christie: the fallen-on-hard-times aristocrats, the snowstorm that prevents any guests from leaving, a stolen painting, a dinner-gone-wrong, and the knowing detective who pieces it all together.

While I’ve read other Atkinson novels, I haven’t picked up her Jackson Brodie series — ROOK is the sixth. It was a podcast interview she did that led me to diving into this one, she clearly had a blast writing this book and it sounded too fun to pass up.

On the surface, this sounded like the perfect fall read with the upstairs-downstairs cast, a missing painting, secrets upon secrets! I’m normally a reader who loves multiple narrators and storylines, but here I found myself gravitating toward certain plots and slogging my way through the rest (sorry, vicar!)

The actual murder mystery dinner doesn’t happen until over 70% of the way through! I’m all for meandering tales but I struggled to stay focused here. I can typically get through a book in a day or two, this one took 11 days 😮‍💨

When it was good it was golden, but those moments were few and far between. DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK has some genuinely laugh out loud moments and it’s evident Atkinson had a great time writing it, but I feel this wasn’t the best starting point for someone new to the series.

This is the sixth book in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie mystery series. Like the other books in the series, it’s a very slow burn literary mystery, where you start out following a bunch of different characters, one of which is private investigator Jackson Brodie, and it takes a while to figure out how they all come together - in this one, mostly about stolen art with everything culminating in an art meets life murder mystery theater production gone wrong at an old mansion in the Yorkshire countryside.

It’s a little different from other books in the series in that I’d say that some of the others have a bit more of an edge, whereas this one verges on being a cozy mystery and has more humor and even farce. But still with an intriguing mystery, literary writing, and great characters.

You could definitely read this as a stand alone - the first four books were all published and I read more than a decade ago, which means most of them are rather hazy to me though I know that characters besides Jackson are from previous books but I don’t really remember the details. What I will say, though, is that this is a book that definitely is not going to be for everyone. If like me you love slow quirky character driven literary mysteries then I would recommend - but if that’s not your thing, this book is probably not for you. I loved it though!

I felt certain, when I began thinking about writing this review, that I first read a Kate Atkinson book when I read Life After Life. That book was one of my favorite books of 2015; it's a book I still think about and one that has kept me returning to Atkinson. In point of fact, though, my first Atkinson book was When Will There Be Good News (which I'd clearly forgotten by this year). That book is actually the third of the Jackson Brody books.

In 2020, I finally read Cases Histories, the first of the Jackson Brodie books. I had every intention of returning to the Brodie books, but it wasn't until this year that I listened to the second book, One Good Turn, and When Will There Be Good News (again!). I'd hoped to listen to the next two books but it turns out my library doesn't have them on audio. Which is how I went from the third book to this, the sixth.

Do you have to read them in order? No necessarily. But would it be a good idea to do so? Yes, definitely. When I last encountered Reggie she was a 16-year-old who got caught up in a kidnapping case and ended up helping Jackson; now she is a detective, who is very fed up with Jackson's questionable methods. In this book, Jackson's daughter is now grown up with a child of her own. How did they all get to where they are now?

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem I had with this book. I've grown used to Atkinson filling her books with large casts of characters, with her books hopping away from Jackson's story to delve into other characters' stories. For some reason, in this book, I was really distracted by this and grew a little bored when we got into side stories of two of the characters. To be fair, those characters did play into the story when things really picked up later in the book, but I'm still not entirely sure that we needed to know their full back story to understand their actions in the moment. I don't know if it makes me feel better to know that I'm not alone in feeling this way.

BUT...I really liked the storyline - the mystery of who stole a small painting, how it came to be in the owner's possession to begin with, how it ties into another art theft. I liked the parts of the book where Jackson was involved, especially his interactions with Reggie. I liked the way things played out once everything began to pick up again. Even a less than her best Atkinson book is still worth reading. And I will read book seven in the series whenever that is released. But first, I'm going back to books four and five. Because I have to know how we got to this point!

Four stars for content! Three stars for the formatting of this ARC! It's great to spend time with Jackson Brodie again. I liked this for its plot and great sense of humor. I found much of Brodie's back story--the bits and pieces thrown in randomly--disappointing and underdeveloped in their vagueness. I think this could have, and probably should have been, just a stand alone by Atkinson who remains a first rate storyteller.

I thoroughly not only enjoyed this story, but the writing style created characters with such amusing quips and dialogue that I found myself laughing out loud several times. Although I did get a bit confused with the abrupt changes in characters and time line, I was hooked from the beginning and this was a well crafted mystery. The tie-in with a modern day crime into an Christie type locked door snow-in romp just further added to my enjoyment. I don't want to give away too many spoilers but missing art work, scheming relatives and domestic intrigue all play their parts in this delightful romp. I did not realize this book was part of a series and although it can stand alone, I will definitely be reading more of Jackson Brodie's misadventures in the PI world.

I’ve always loved these books, and I’ve really appreciated how Jackson’s character has evolved throughout the series. Wonderful.

have enjoyed a couple of the author’s previous Jackson Brodie literary mysteries and, though I have skipped a few which meant there were a few references I didn’t get (or maybe I’ve just forgotten them), I happily ripped through this one.

Jackson Brodie is lackadaisically investigating an apparent art theft by an old woman’s home help. It takes a while, but this gets linked to another one with a similar MO of a Turner from a local stately home. This is just the McGufffin to get us thinking about loss, loneliness, and grief.

We are introduced to various local characters: Simon the vicar who has lost his faith and his voice; Ben, a war veteran, who lost his leg to an IED, the Milton family who have lost their fortune and whatever love that bound them. Private detective Jackson and local DC Regina “Reggie” King who have history (which I wasn’t clear on the specifics of) jointly and separately investigate the lost art works.

The plot culminates in a farcical murder mystery evening at Burton Makepeace House in a snowstorm, in which a world-weary troupe of has-been (or never-was) actors play out a script while a real-life murderer is on the loose.

The plot is slight but the character development is deep and moving. The author is far too smart to churn out a standard whodunnit, but uses the conventions and tropes of mysteries from Agatha Christie to Inspector Morse as the skeleton for a profound exploration of damaged human beings who are doing their best to carry on regardless.

Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Super fun to be with Jackson Brodie again, and the set up for this one is a treat. I particularly enjoyed the in-depth character studies -- the idea of taking "characters" from a murder mystery (the vicar, the Lady etc.) and turning them into such real, vivid people.

I can’t believe that this is the sixth Jackson Brodie novel! It’s always a jolt to pick up the latest in the series and realize that about as much time has passed in the books as it has in the real world. Jackson is now well into his 60s, reflecting on his mortality and rueing several of his less than excellent life choices.

Private investigation, however, is not one of those regrets, even if his latest clients, Hazel and Ian Padgett, are being rather shifty about the case they’ve brought to him. Their mother Dorothy has recently died, and a painting of hers has gone missing. Her carer, Melanie Hope, disappeared at the same time that the family’s possibly valuable portrait did. The younger Padgetts are insisting that they just want their family heirloom back, and don’t want to involve the police out of a desire to protect Melanie. Jackson is pretty sure that they’re full of it, but a paying case is a paying case.

His investigations soon put him on the trail of a con artist whose unusual modus operandi is to ingratiate herself into a household for several months before taking off with a valuable piece of art. Because of international rules of provenance, there’s virtually no legitimate market for the pieces that she’s stolen, meaning that the criminal Jackson’s after must have pretty good ties to the underworld.

Meanwhile, Detective Constable Reggie Chase is still missing her friend and former partner DC Ronnie Debicki, who has moved to London to join the Metropolitan Police. Ronnie encourages Reggie to make the move too, but Reggie has her own ambitions up here in Yorkshire, even if they do mean that she has to put up with the crushingly dreadful DC Tiffany Sellars:

QUOTE
‘Oh, “poppycock”!’ Reggie said, feeling a surge of lexical delight. ‘Do you know where that word comes from?’

‘Not really.’

What is this? School? Reggie heard Tiffany’s voice in her head. It wasn’t that Reggie wanted to teach people, she just wanted them to understand the pleasure of learning and the satisfaction of knowing. She’d fought against horrible odds herself to get an education. She loved quizzes, loved knowing the answers to questions. In what year did ITV commence broadcasting? What is the deepest lake in the world? Who won the Battle of Naseby? Why wouldn’t you want to know this stuff? (‘Because it’s boring?’ Tiffany offered.) And wasn’t that why she had become a detective? To have answers.
END QUOTE

It’s partly this that makes it hard for her to refuse when Jackson comes calling on her once more, asking about a case she worked on a while back. A housekeeper named Sophie Greenway had absconded with a valuable J. M. W. Turner from Burton Makepeace, the local manor house, before seemingly vanishing into thin air. Her disappearance had left a hole not only in the household, but also in the nearby village, many of whose inhabitants thought well of the good-natured but oddly indistinguishable woman.

As Jackson and Reggie join forces to investigate, they’ll have to contend with a Yorkshire blizzard, a murder mystery party and a serial killer on the loose, even as matters of the heart seek to complicate the proceedings. And then there is, of course, the unending complication that is Jackson Brodie himself:

QUOTE
Reggie was never sure whether Jackson Brodie and [her boss] Louise Monroe had been ‘an item’ (she hated that word!) but there had certainly been a lot of what you might call yearning between them. Louise had probably had a lucky escape.

Jackson Brodie’s MO was disruption. His attitude to the law was like that of a Wild West sheriff. All that coincidence-being-an-explanation-waiting-to-happen baloney was just a cover for not following procedure. Procedure was good, you knew where you were with procedure.
END QUOTE

Fans of Jackson Brodie and his world of grand coincidences will adore this humorous, often life-affirming novel. I was just glad to be back with my beloved Reggie, and to bask in the reflected glow of the warmth of her friendship with Jackson. I’ve loved watching their relationship grow and evolve from the very start, and having her take on the guise of being his daughter at various instances in this novel felt more like a truth pretending to be a lie than the other way around. Reggie, with her love of learning and her belief in justice, is so very dear to my heart. Given the way the timeline of these books leaps forward, I’ll be sad when Jackson must inevitably leave us, but hope that there will be many more of Reggie’s adventures to come.

Fantastic cozy mystery! Clever, funny, interesting and in-depth characterizations, with a few oddballs and bits of history. Charming and entertaining read.

Jackson Brodie is back after a long hiatus. Like the rest of us, Brodie has aged since we last saw him. This newest mystery from Kate Atkinson finds him somewhat retired, taking on some small cases to while away his time.
Brodie’s latest involves a missing painting, taken from the room of an elderly woman after she had died. Also missing is the young woman who was her caregiver. But wait, there is another unsolved case very similar to this one being investigated by DC Reggie Case, whom we know from previous Brodie novels.
Besides the missing paintings, we find all kinds of losses: a vicar who has lost his faith, a Lady of the Manor who has lost her wealth, a soldier who has lost his leg. There is also a motley cast of characters involved in numerous activities, from a mystery theater night at the manor to a murder in town, all as a blizzard swirls outside.
My thanks to NetGalley, Doubleday Books and Kate Atkinson for an advanced copy of this rollicking book. My opinions are my own.