One Good Turn requires your attention. Jackson Brodie, the retired policeman, retired detective, does one good thing. He offers help to Martin Canning, who has helped a man who is a victim of road rage. This is the straightforward, easy part.
From here, the novel becomes four or six or eight threads which weave in and almost as deftly as Brodie does through Atkinson's "mystery novels." I use the quotes because the mystery is not as fascinating as the intricate threads.
Her novels are not for those who read distractedly.
She reminds me of Fay Wheldon. There's a funny sneer of institutions, yet she isn't quite as outlandish.
Jackson says "a coincidence is just an explanation is just waiting to happen." I guess that sums up most mystery novels. Atkinson's seem to be more, because she writes them so well.
