Case Histories (2004) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Jackson Brodie: Private detective who was formerly on the police force, and, before that, in the army. Also formerly married, but still very much a father to an eight year old daughter.
• Julia: Flamboyant actress, who loves attention. Sister of Amelia and Sylvia, who are all dealing with their father's death.
• Amelia: Part-time teacher, full-time spinster; somber Amelia is the polar opposite of her outgoing sister Julia. The death of their father brings the sisters together.
• Laura: Eighteen old daughter of Theo, planning to begin University when murdered. Case unsolved.
• Olivia: Adored little sister of Amelia, Sylvia and Julia who disappeared as a young child and was never found.
• Theo: Laura's father; ten years after her death, he is still searching for answers to her senseless murder.
• Sylvia: Sister of Olivia, Julia and Amelia, who has become a nun.
• Victor: Father of Olivia, Julia, Amelia and Sylvia, husband to Rosemary--a mathematician.
• Caroline: A talented school teacher who visited a rural town for a weekend, and soon found herself getting married to the local lord of the manor, Jonathan. Soon, though, she finds herself drawn to the local vicar.
• Rosemary: Overwhelmed mother of the four girls, Olivia, Sylvia, Julia and Amelia, with another baby on the way.
• Josie: Jackson's ex-wife, who has left Jackson for David Lastingham, taking Jackson's daughter with her.
• Michelle: Very young mother, recently married to Keith, has a baby, Tanya and lives in a tiny rudimentary cottage far from town.
• Shirley Morrison: Michelle's younger sister who grows up to become a nurse.
• Howell: Jackson's best friend--an army buddy.
• Francis: Jackson's older brother
• Henry: Amelia's boyfriend
• Niamh: Jackson's older sister.
• Kim Strachan: Wife of Stan Jessup, one of Laura's teachers.
• Jonathan: Caroline's wealthy husband.
• Keith: Michelle's husband.
• Rowena: Caroline's imperial mother-in-law
• Stan Jessop: Laura's teacher.
• Tanya: Michelle's daughter.
• David Lastingham: Josie's new husband.
• Deborah Arnold: Jackson's secretary.
• Jennifer: Theo's other daughter
• Marlee: Jackson's eight year old daughter who always seems to be hungry.
• Milly: Family nickname for Amelia--Julia always calls her "Milly".
• John Burton: The Vicar at Caroline's church.
• Valerie: Theo's wife, who died at an early age, leaving Theo to raise his two daughters on his own.
• Marian Foster: Last remaining person who worked the Olivia Land case

Quotes edit see section history

• “It wasn't that Theo believed in religion, or a God, or an afterlife. He just knew it was impossible to feel this much love and for it to end.”

  Theo, on being reunited with Laura in death

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Novels gave you a completely false idea about life, they told lies and they implied there were endings when in reality there were no endings, everything just went on and on and on.

  Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers

• Basic interrogation fact: people look up to the left when they’re remembering and up to the right when they’re inventing.

  Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers

• Everything was from duty, nothing from love. Duty killed you in the end.

  Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers

• It wasn’t that Theo believed in religion, or a God, or an afterlife. He just knew it was impossible to feel this much love and for it to end.

  Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers

• Because that was how it happened: one moment you were there, laughing, talking, breathing, and the next you were gone. Forever. And there wasn’t even a shape left in the world where you’d been, neither the trace of a smile nor the whisper of a word. Just nothing.

  Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers

• That was how you lost people, a little carelessness and they just slipped through your fingers.

  Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers

• As far as Theo was concerned the parent-child relationship was one way, you gave them all your love and they were under no obligation to pay a penny back. Of course, if they did love you then that was the icing on the cake with cherries on top.

  Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers

• What did you do when the worst thing that could happen to you had already happened—how did you live your life then? You had to hand it to Theo Wyre, just carrying on living required a kind of strength and courage that most people didn’t have.

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• Because you couldn’t make time, she’d been deluded about that. Time was a thief, he stole your life away from you and the only way you could get it back was to outwit him and snatch it right back.

  Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers

• Time did not heal—it merely rubbed at the wound, slowly and relentlessly.

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Cambridge, England: Where most of the action takes place--where most of the characters live and die.
• France: Where Jackson dreams of retiring.
• New Zealand: Where Jackson's ex-wife is planning to move to with their daughter and her soon to be husband David.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• HNC: Higher National Certificate--is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. The attainment level of the rest is roughly equivalent to one year of university and a Certificate of Higher Education but being the same as that of a Higher National Diploma (HND) and one below that of a bachelor's degree.
• "tied" cottage: a cottage or house owned by an employer (as a farmer) and reserved for occupancy by an employee
• cenotaph: A tomblike monument to someone buried elsewhere, esp. one commemorating people who died in a war.
• erotomania: A delusion in which a person (typically a woman) believes that another person (typically of higher social status) is in love with them.
• avuncular: Kind and friendly toward a younger or less experienced person
• misericord: A ledge projecting from the underside of a hinged seat in a choir stall that, when the seat is turned up, gives support to someone standing
• adamantine: Unbreakable
• hejira: a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment
• VSO: Voluntary Service Overseas, an international development charity
• cock-a-hoop: A very old English phrase, dating back to the early 16th century, with two meanings as an adjective in common usage today: “being in a state of elation or boastful high spirits,” and “being askew or crooked.” But the original meaning of “cock-a-hoop” as a verb was a bit livelier – “to drink without restraint; to celebrate drunkenly.”
• mufti: Plain clothes worn by a person who wears a uniform for their job, such as a soldier or police officer.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by One Good Turn.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Kate Atkinson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( A )

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Case Histories (IMDb): TV Series