Started Early, Took My Dog A Novel [Paperback]

Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective-a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other-or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge.

Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such asCase Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue-that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.Kate Atkinson lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel,Behind the Scenes at the Museum, was named Whitbread Book of the Year in the U.K. in 1995, and was followed byHuman Croquet,Emotionally Weird,Not the End of the World,Case Histories,One Good Turn,andWhen Will There Be Good News?. Brilliant...Atkinson seamlessly weaves together [strands] in a plot driven by coincidence and a diamond-hard recognition of man's darker nature...[Tracy's] odyssey as a new parent to a waif dressed in a ragged fairy costume, relayed with both tenderness and wry wit, must be one of the grandest love affairs in crime fiction...For its singular melding of radiant humor and dark deeds, this is must-reading for literary crime-fiction fans. Joanne Wilkinson,Booklist, starred review The sleuthing is less important than Atkinson's fascinating take on the philosophical and emotional dimensions of her characters' lives. Kirkus [The Jackson Brodie books] are an entrancing hybrid of the literary novel/detective story. Case Histories...is a classic....Atkinson's views of contemporary society can be bleak, but she has an amazing eye for kids, dogs and lS'