--- title: Case Histories: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books description: Find out why 'Case Histories' by Kate Atkinson made the list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-03T11:56:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:20:52.164Z og:title: Case Histories: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books og:description: Here’s why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd96673086ecef06e/698a407722fb85b252e2f108/CaseHistories.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Case Histories: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Case Histories: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books twitter:description: Here’s why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd96673086ecef06e/698a407722fb85b252e2f108/CaseHistories.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # Case Histories by Kate Atkinson by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  In [Kate Atkinson’s](https://time.com/5401644/kate-atkinson-transcription/) 2004 _Case Histories_, cop turned private detective Jackson Brodie is hired to crack three separate cold cases. Initially, he seems to have no connection to any of them, and they seem to have no connection to each other: a young girl vanishes from her backyard, a teenager is murdered in her father’s office, and a struggling wife slays her husband with an ax. Brodie quickly becomes embroiled in untangling the mysteries, and the book’s nonlinear, shattered structure lends itself to this balancing act, which soon proves more complex than Brodie anticipated. Atkinson’s meticulous writing is urgent and addictive, and she doesn’t shy away from making clever observations about the human condition, underlining larger themes around grief, loss, and cruelty. _Case Histories_ serves as the first in a series of five, and has been adapted for the small screen by BBC One. —_Meg Zukin_ **Buy Now:** _Case Histories_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780316010702) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3PTzLKP) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/"},"headline":"Case Histories","datePublished":"2023-10-03T11:56:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:20:52.164Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd96673086ecef06e/698a407722fb85b252e2f108/CaseHistories.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd96673086ecef06e/698a407722fb85b252e2f108/CaseHistories.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309217/case-histories/","name":"Case Histories"}}]}] ```