One Good Turn

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What to expect

It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident - a near-homicidal attack which changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander - until he becomes a murder suspect.

As the body count mounts, each member of the teeming Dickensian cast's story contains a kernel of the next, like a set of nesting Russian dolls. They are all looking for love or money or redemption or escape: but what each actually discovers is their own true self.

Critics Review

  • An absolute joy to read…the pleasure of One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson’s wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre.

    Guardian
  • Atkinson is frequently very funny…while the tone stays light, the plot continues to darken….manages to be that rarest of things – a good literary novel and a cracking holiday read

    Observer
  • Atkinson, while having fun with the murder-mystery genre, slyly slips us a muted tragedy

    Sunday Telegraph
  • One Good Turn is the most fun I’ve had with a novel this year

    Guardian
  • Thrillingly addictive…In One Good Turn Atkinson proves quite unique in her ability to fuse emotional drama and thriller…Imagine a Richard Curtis film scripted by Raymond Chandler, both a little enlivened by the collaboration…The mix is embodied by Brodie. Like all good detectives, he is a hero for men and women alike

    The Times

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