Case Histories (2004) is the first novel in Kate Atkinson’s critically acclaimed Jackson Brodie series. It follows Brodie, a private investigator and retired police officer, as he attempts to solve three cold cases. As he delves deeper into the past, his messy personal life starts to implode. The city of Cambridge and its long history offer a rich backdrop for Atkinson’s novel, which was praised for its literary sensibilities and intricate plot. In total, Atkinson has written six Jackson Brodie novels. The BBC adapted the first four novels in a series for television in 2011; the limited series was also called Case Histories.

This guide refers to the e-book version of the 2007 Little, Brown and Company edition.

Content Warning: The source text depicts child sexual abuse, the death of a child, murder, violence, domestic violence, suicide, and rape.

Plot Summary

Case Histories follows Jackson Brodie, a middle-aged private investigator, as he is hired to work three cold cases. The novel is primarily set in Cambridge, England, and takes place in 2004.

The first case involves Olivia Land, a little girl who went missing from her family’s yard in 1970. In the present, Olivia’s two sisters Amelia and Julia return home to Cambridge to attend the deathbed of their father Victor, a retired math professor. Their third surviving sister, Sylvia, is a cloistered nun and does not leave the convent. When cleaning out their father’s house after his death, they discover Olivia’s beloved Blue Mouse, a toy that she had with her when she went missing. Victor had kept it locked away in his desk drawer. Disturbed by this, the women hire Jackson to find out what happened to Olivia.

The second case is the murder of Laura Wyre. Laura was the daughter of an attorney, Theo, and was interning in his office in the summer of 1994 before leaving for college. She was stabbed to death one day by an unknown assailant who rushed into the office building, identified only by his distinctive yellow golf sweater. He was never caught, and Theo is unable to move on with his life due to grief. He stops working and becomes morbidly obese. In 2004, he decides that it is the 10th anniversary of Laura’s death and that he is ready for closure. He hires Jackson to help him track down the killer.

In the third case, which took place in 1979, Michelle Fletcher became pregnant at 18 and married quickly. She moved to a remote cottage with her infant daughter, Tanya, and husband, Keith. One day, she got into an argument with Keith and snapped. She confessed to killing him with an ax and was sentenced to serve time in prison. In 2004, she changes her name to Caroline and lives in rural northern England, working as a schoolteacher. She is married to a wealthy landowner she doesn’t love and is unhappy in her life. Jackson is hired by Michelle’s sister, Shirley, to track down Tanya in the present day.

The novel also delves into Jackson’s own unhappy past, revealing that he lost his mother, sister, and brother the year he turned 12. His mother died of cancer, and his sister was sexually assaulted and murdered. Jackson’s older brother died by suicide out of grief and misplaced guilt.

Jackson investigates the Land case, spending more time with the quirky Land sisters. He is suspicious of their father, Victor, who was a cruel and uncaring man. Though they do not confess this to Jackson, Amelia and Julia discuss the fact that Victor sexually abused Sylvia and tried to molest Julia. Sylvia, too, started behaving strangely as a child, claiming to hear the voice of God. Jackson is friendly with the Lands’ neighbor, an old woman named Binky Rain, who frequently asks him to find her missing cats. He sees his visits to her as a form of charity since she is a strange and lonely old woman. Binky tells him that the Land girls were wild, and she is dismissive of the family’s grief.

Jackson also struggles to find leads in Laura’s case. Ultimately, he re-interviews one of Laura’s old school friends who mentions that one of their teachers had a crush on Laura. The teacher, Stan Jessop, and his wife, Kim, also let Laura babysit for them.

Meanwhile, Michelle’s younger sister, Shirley, contacts Jackson and asks him to help her find Tanya. She claims that she lost touch with her niece and would like to reconnect. Jackson is attracted to Shirley and agrees to take the case. They sleep together, but he discovers that she lied about being unmarried. He also believes that she is hiding something about the night Keith was killed and drops her as a client.

During his investigation, Jackson balances his work with parenting his eight-year-old daughter, Marlee. Marlee lives with her mother, Jackson’s ex-wife Josie, and Josie’s boyfriend David. Jackson’s relationship with Josie deteriorates over the course of the investigation, especially because Josie is angry that he takes Marlee along with him to Binky’s house and to the convent to visit Sylvia. Jackson is also attacked several times. He is hit over the head in a dark street, his brakes are tampered with, and eventually someone blows up his house. He worries that his career is putting him and his family in danger. He also visits the dentist repeatedly for a toothache.

One day, Theo is visiting Laura’s memorial when he suffers a severe asthma attack. He almost dies but is saved by the intervention of a young unhoused girl named Lily-Rose. Jackson and Lily-Rose visit Theo in the hospital.

Jackson interviews Stan Jessop, who makes crass comments about Laura. However, through him, Jackson connects with Stan’s ex-wife Kim, who remembers Laura fondly. She had left Stan and the country at the time of the murder and never spoke to the police, but she immediately identifies the yellow sweater as the one her creepy neighbor Stuart used to wear. Jackson sends a postcard with Stuart’s information to Theo. Then, while driving to visit his hometown with Marlee, he passes out in the car. He is hospitalized due to a tooth infection but recovers.

In the meantime, Lily-Rose has moved in with Theo, who does nothing with the information Jackson sent him about Laura’s killer. Instead, he devotes himself to a paternal relationship with Lily-Rose. She reveals that she is Tanya, Michelle’s missing daughter.

Caroline finds herself pregnant again and decides to leave Jonathan and disappear to start over again. She reveals that she never killed Keith but took the blame for Shirley, who was the one who had struck Keith with the ax. In exchange, Shirley promised to look after Tanya. Caroline decides she will not make the same mistake again and vows to love her new baby.

Binky Rain dies suddenly, and Amelia finds her body in the garden. Despairing of ever finding Olivia and of the sadness of her own life, Amelia attempts suicide by overdose. Julia finds her and saves her. Jackson, released from the hospital, goes back to the convent to confront Sylvia. He points out that she was not surprised to see Blue Mouse. She confesses that she accidentally suffocated Olivia and that Victor helped her hide the body. She was relieved Olivia died since it meant that Victor would never hurt her.

Jackson discovers that Binky has left him her entire fortune, with the provision that he cares for her cats. It turns out that the person trying to kill him was her only living relative, her great nephew Quintus Rain, who wanted the money for himself. Jackson begins seeing Julia and decides to leave Amelia in charge of the house and cats. He privately tells Amelia the truth about Olivia’s death, leaving Sylvia’s fate up to her. Amelia decides not to tell the police but converts Binky’s garden into a memorial for her sister.

Jackson uses his money to buy a house in France. The novel ends with Amelia and Julia visiting him there.