But crackling one-liners, spot-on set pieces and full-blooded cameos help make this another absorbing character study from the versatile, effervescent Atkinson. Along the way, pieces of plot fall through the cracks between repeatedly shifting points of view, and the final cataclysm feels forced. After Martin misses a visit from the Honda man (Martin's wonderfully annoying houseguest isn't so lucky), he enlists Jackson as a bodyguard, pulling the characters into closer orbit before they collide on Gloria Hatter's lawn. Everyone's burdened by a secret-infidelity, unprofessional behavior, murder-adding depth and many diversions.
Jackson walks away from the incident, but keeps running into trouble, including a corpse, the Honda man and sexy, tight-lipped inspector Louise Monroe. Other bystanders include crime novelist Martin Canning, a valiant milquetoast who saves Bradley's life, and tart-tongued Gloria Hatter, who's plotting to end her 39-year marriage to a shady real estate developer. Over her two-decade-plus career, Kate Atkinson has reinvented herself as a writer several times by working in, and often bending, a variety of genres, from the family drama of her Whitbread Awardwinning debut Behind the Scenes at the Museum. When incognito thug "Paul Bradley" is rear-ended by a Honda driver who gets out and bashes Bradley unconscious with a baseball bat, the now-retired Jackson is a reluctant witness. It was a good idea for a plot but hammily executed, Juliet observes of a dreadful 1930s film, Death at Broadcasting House. In Transcription, Kate Atkinson again exhibits her narrative mastery with an intriguing story of trust and betrayal set during and after World War II. Jackson Brodie to Edinburgh while girlfriend Julia performs in a Fringe Festival play. Having won a wide following for her first crime novel (and fifth book), Case Histories
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