She layers plot and time periods with consummate skill, creating novels that work like elegant jazz improvisations, taking us onto amazing yet believable paths that eventually weave together into an even more astonishing result.Atkinson, as always, brings something fresh to. There are crimes in this book.but Atkinson is just as concerned with crimes of the heart, and with the unexpected consequences of good intentions.

Started Early, Took My Dog does not disappoint.A witty, moving, suspenseful and always surprising story about the things we do for love.Atkinsons books stake out their own territory on the border between mysteries and literary fiction. I look forward to many authors books with pleasure and interest, but Atkinson is such a virtuoso that my brain starts fizzing like a glass of bubbly even before I crack the covers. 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 Every time I hear Kate Atkinson has a new novel on the way, Im filled with delight. Mary Ann Gwinn, The Seattle Times Brilliant.Atkinson seamlessly weaves together in a plot driven by coincidence and a diamond-hard recognition of mans darker nature. Case Histories.is a classic.Atkinsons views of contemporary society can be bleak, but she has an amazing eye for kids, dogs and human fallibility. Review Quotes are an entrancing hybrid of the literary novel/detective story. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished. Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue: that of an abused dog. 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.

Both appear miserable and better off without each other - or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Book Synopsis 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.

Started early took my dog