Started Early, Took My Dog / Kate Atkinson 371 p.

This was not at all what I expected, but I liked it. A retired Leeds police detective, Tracy Waterhouse makes an abrupt decision involving an abused child which sets in motion a series of strange consequences. At the same time, private detective Jackson Brodie investigates a decades-old adoption case to which Tracy is connected. Atkinson has an unusual, very witty style, a bit like Elizabeth George, with more bite. The characters are all entangled in crazy ways but I didn't mind - the writing was so interesting, and the personal/social obversations so deadpan funny, that plausibility didn't matter much. Brodie is the repeat character for this writer, and I will definitely be reading more.