Death at the Sign of the Rook

Just when we thought Kate Atkinson had finished with Jackson Brodie, along comes Death at the Sign of the Rook. And this time, Atkinson delivers a mystery infused with her superb wit. Jackson Brodie, now a private investigator, is hired to investigate the theft of a painting from the home of Dorothy Padgett, an elderly woman who recently died. At the same time, the Milton family is hosting a “murder mystery weekend” at Burton Makepeace, their country estate hotel. We also meet the local vicar and others who are tenants on the Milton estate. As Atkinson builds this world she pokes fun at English society and mannerisms while dropping clues that may or may not relate to the theft. And Jackson is reunited with Reggie Chase, a delightful show more recurring character who is now a police officer.

Eventually the murder mystery weekend becomes intertwined with actual crimes, and turns into a slapstick caper. Various people find their way to Burton Makepeace, either on purpose (for the murder mystery) or for other more coincidental reasons, and then a huge snowstorm holds them all captive. The mystery is solved, but you may have forgotten about that stolen painting and become much more interested in other related storylines. It doesn’t matter – just have fun. show less

In this Jackson Brodie outing, Atkinson went back to a Golden Age style of mystery novel, and one that I enjoyed very much. A painting has gone missing from the home of a recently deceased woman. Her adult children meet with Brody to have him investigate the theft that he rightly suspects has more to the story than what he’s given. He is joined in the investigation by detective Reggie Chase who is investigating another art theft. The plot involves a Murder Mystery Weekend troupe being hosted at a stately home where the lady of the manor has been reduced to using alternate methods of raising money, as well as all the elements and zany characters of an old-fashioned farce. Naturally, there is a snowstorm. This was the most fun I’ve show more had from Atkinson. I enjoyed the intriguing mystery as well as the many sections that provoked laughing out loud.

Highly recommended. show less

January 13, 2026
This was a fun read – but there are a lot of characters that could confuse some readers. Part of the fun is how the characters mimic typical British mysteries that take place in small villages. There was the vicar, the wealthy family with the rundown estate, the Dowager, the private detective, the elderly busybody, the suspicious servants – with a missing painting, murder, and a snowstorm. These characters turn up again when the estate hosts a Murder Mystery weekend. Now we have two vicars, two butlers, plus playacting and real murderers!

The novel’s viewpoint changes with each chapter, and the chapters end with a sort of cliff hanger to keep you reading. It takes a while for the characters to connect with each show more other but the more I read, the more the clues started to fit together.

It’s really over-the-top but I just couldn’t look away. As the book jacket says, “We are treated to Atkinson’s most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre – from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of "Knives Out" and "Only Murders in the Building.”

This was number six in the Jackson Brodie detective series, but it didn’t seem to matter that it was my introduction to this likable mid-life sleuth as well as to the talented author. Works fine as a stand-alone but I think I’ll be looking for more in this series. show less

I have read two novels by Kate Atkinson and when I was offered one of her Jackson Brodie novels I was eager to read it. I knew she had a series of these books and was concerned about jumping in late to the game, but I enjoyed Death at the Sign of the Rook as a stand alone novel.

Jackson Brodie is asked to investigate a Renaissance painting that went missing after its owner died. The children who hired him note that their mother’s hired companion also disappeared at the same time.

When he looks at the dining room he recalls his own formica kitchen table, thinking of his family and how “one by one, his family members had disappeared, lost to murder, suicide, cancer, a trifecta of bereavement…”. The scene suggests a legacy of loss, show more and I don’t have to know the details to understand Brodie. (It DOES make me want to read the rest of the series!)

Brodie connects the theft with other cases where hired help went missing at the same time as valuable paintings. Some years back, at Burton Makepeace, a Turner had gone missing.

Brodie makes a visit to Burton Makepeace. He finds that the Lady Milton has been reduced to selling off art, renting rooms, and is presently hosting a Mystery Murder Weekend.

A snowstorm traps the characters at Burton Makepeace, including Brodie and Reggie, the police woman he enlisted to help with the case. They have a history from before Brodie left the police force.

Stragglers come in from the storm, including a vicar and a stranger. People die–of natural and unnatural causes. In the end, the mystery is solved, but without a full closure.

What I most loved about the novel is the dry humor. A character has lost his leg in a war, and asked “what will you do with only one leg,” he replies, “Limp, I expect.” Lady Milton did not marry for love. She only saw her husband at meals. “Absence was the foundation of a good marriage,” she believes. When the vicar tells the bishop that he has lost his faith, he is told to just carry on–it doesn’t make much difference, in the end. I could quote dozens of such scenes.

I look forward to reading more in this series.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley. show less

This, the sixth Jackson Brodie detective novel, is a spoof of the chamber mysteries popularized by Agatha Christie and others (including the Nancy Styles Atkinson invents here). Much of the action occurs at a stately manor on the Yorkshire moors. A hapless theatrical troupe stages a murder mystery for paying guests to test their skills as amateur sleuths; meanwhile, the manor becomes a genuine crime scene. This feat of dual plotting allows Atkinson to marshal—along with the requisite dotty nobility—two majors, two vicars, and other usual characters.

From the start of her Brodie series, Atkinson seemed determined to disprove the cliché that, while women authors might excel in mystery fiction, they were too genteel to write show more realistically about violent crime. At the same time, she has consistently displayed a sense of humor. In this book, however, the humor has become more absurd, continuing in the surrealist vein she mined in her recent short story collection, Normal Rules Don’t Apply.

The madcap denouement was less Agatha Christie than Marx Brothers, especially Animal Crackers (which also involved a missing picture and, in the end, abandoned all attempts at resolution). Not all explanations are necessarily true, nor are all the loose ends tied up (was Nanny’s corpse ever retrieved from the pantry?). In particular, the identity of the best actor (fittingly, not part of the theatrical company) remains a mystery.

And I didn’t care. This may not maintain the high quality of the first four Brodies, but I enjoyed it from start to finish. show less

How did private investigator Jackson Brodie and his police friend, Detective Constable Reggie Chase, find themselves attending a Murder Mystery night in the rundown estate, cum hotel, Burton Makepeace House? It started when the twin children of the recently deceased Dorothy Padgett hired Brodie to track down a Renaissance era painting that had belonged to Dorothy and was purportedly stolen by her caregiver. Research revealed a similar crime, the theft of a Turner owned by Lady Milton, had been committed at Burton Makepeace several years earlier, a crime investigated by Chase. Thus, on a frigidly cold night, Brodie and Chase, knock on the door to interview Lady Milton only to find a Murder Mystery night in progress. Add a blizzard, a show more mute vicar, an army veteran with a prosthetic leg, an escaped murderer, a dowager whose mind wanders, a corpse in the walk-in freezer, an inept acting troupe and heirs looking to cash in before and after their parents' deaths and the result is a farcical mystery that ropes you in immediately.
It has been five years since the publication of Big Sky and Brodie fans have eagerly awaited his next caper. Fans and newbies alike will not be disappointed. show less

(2) How I love Kate Atkinson. This is apparently the 6th in the Jackson Brodie series and I have read and enjoyed them all mostly in the last ~2 yrs. This is no different although Jackson is getting long in the tooth and has a grandchild now. Reggie Chase, the young orphan girl introduced many fictional years ago in 'When will there be Good News?' is prominent in this wacky installment that features art theft, a Downtown Abbey type manor and village with a vicar, etc. as well as a fake Murder mystery entertainment night that becomes entangled with a real psychopath killer on the loose. Somehow, Atkinson makes it all work. Though maybe not quite as clever as in my more favorite Jackson Brodies.

The Dowager Milton is hilarious and does show more indeed steal the show in this novel. I hope that she might be a recurring character in the future. Simon the vicar who has lost his faith. And of course the kindly villainess who goes by many names is an interesting character. Atkinson is a brilliant character writer; Dickensian. Her prose is also quite good. Personally, I think that although these books are lighthearted, there is some gravitas to the topics she alights on that is quite literary: post traumatic acceptance, growth. Different ways to live lives of meaning and contentment. Crises of faith and purpose.

I love this series and her writing - this book is no exception. Although it did feel possibly more brief. Less personal character development and life details re: Jackson himself - which I missed. I will be first in line for anything she writes. show less