Case Histories

By Kate Atkinson

This is a book about unhappy marriages, unhappy families and terrible tragedies. In Case #1, set in 1970, an indifferent father and a stressed mother let two of their young daughters sleep out in a tent one hot summer night. The youngest daughter disappears without a trace. Much later, after both the parents are dead and the children are middle aged, while cleaning out their parents' house prior to selling it, they discover the missing child's favorite toy that supposedly had vanished along with the child locked in their father's desk.
Case #2, set in 1994, a lawyer's teen daughter has her throat cut by a stranger in a yellow sweater. The killer was never caught.
Case #3, 1979, a young mother axes her husband in the skull when he wakes up the baby. She goes to prison and her baby goes to be raised by her incompetent in-laws.
These three old cases come to the attention of a private investigator, Jackson, who also had an unhappy marriage and has a young daughter. He also has a history of tragedy in his family: his sister was murdered when he was a boy.
Case #1 is brought to him by the missing girl's sisters who want to know why her little toy was in their father's desk. They fear that maybe their father is implicated in her disappearance. They also hope she may still be alive and want her found.
Case #2 is brought to him by the dead teen's father who has never given up trying to understand why someone would kill his lovely, bright daughter.
Case #3 is brought to Jackson by the killer's sister. She wants Jackson to find her missing niece whom she lost track of years ago.
Although this is a book of murder mysteries, mainly it is about these sad families, including that of the investigator, Jackson. It is a really interesting book, full of strange characters and compelling histories. It was a real pleasure to read, even though it is about very sad events and unhappy families. I enjoyed it a lot.