As is often the case in Atkinson's genre-defying fiction, assignments to track lost cats and unfaithful husbands are never quite what they seem.'- TIME, 32 Books You Need to Read this Summer 'The bestselling British writer returns to Brodie's world for a fifth time in Big Sky, which finds the hero ensconced in a quaint northern English seaside town, making a living as a private investigator. With Atkinson it's Raymond Chandler meets Jane Austen, and amazingly she makes it all work.'- The Washington Post's Best Summer Thrillers There isn't a character here - major or minor - who doesn't sashay resplendently off the page.

'The novel is brimming with the wit and let-justice-triumph tenacity that led the series to print bestsellerdom and a popular BBC-TV series.

Thank goodness the long Jackson Brodie hiatus is over.'- Janet Maslin, New York Times It's a prime example of how Atkinson tells a great story, toys with expectations, deceives by omission, blows smoke and also writes like she's your favorite friend. It's a short chapter called 'Eloping,' and if you have a way of looking at it, do.

It's a bit of a red herring, but it couldn't do a better job of throwing the reader off base and commanding instant interest. 'Atkinson opens 'Big Sky' with one perfect page. The book won the Costa Novel Award and sold over half a million copies, catapulting Kate Atkinson from much-loved author to household name.One of Vanity Fair's Best Books of the Year A beautifully written, compelling and genuinely innovative read. In a parallel story, Ursula lives and we follow her story as she relives the dramatic events of the early 20th century again and again. The story begins on a snowy day in 1910 with the death of baby Ursula. In Life After Life, Kate Atkinson asks some interesting questions about fate and destiny. Here, we've hand-picked eight of the best Kate Atkinson novels to read now. She's one of my favourite writers and even if you've read these books before, they're worth revisiting as there is layer upon layer of detail. Her prose is beautiful and her writing is laced with dark humour. Her books may be award-winning but they're also deeply readable. These are hugely popular and have been turned into BBC TV series, Case Histories. As well as her inventive literary fiction, which has twice won her the Costa Novel Award (with Life After Life and A God In Ruins), she's made a name for herself as a crime writer with four books featuring private investigator Jackson Brodie. She started writing short stories in her 30s and won a magazine competition but it was only after she turned 40 that she began her first novel, Behind The Scenes At The Museum.

Kate Atkinson is something of a rule-breaker: she didn't publish her first book until her 40s and she refuses to stick to one genre, with both best-selling literary and crime novels to her name.

Jackson brodie series in order