Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Billed on the cover and on Amazon as a mystery, Case Histories is both more and less. As a mystery, it’s transparent, but I doubt the author intended it to be a whodunnit. No, it’s more of a series of interrelated character sketches in a crime-based framework. The characters have all been scarred by past tragedies and are now coming together through a series of unlikely coincidences to heal some of those wounds.
In no way is this a realistic book, but it is an entertaining one. I enjoyed the characters but could have done with a little less plot (attempts on the detective’s life are my least-favorite crime-series cliche). The book wraps up a little too neatly at the end but since you’ve come to care for the characters, it’s nice to see them happily settled.