If you’re familiar with the Jackson Brodie series, you might know that Kate Atkinson took a nine-year hiatus before bringing us Big Sky in 2019. Many readers will be thrilled to see her back once again with another tale of Jackson Brodie, Death at the Sign of the Rook.

The novel opens as Brodie (ex-cop and current private eye) is hired to track down a missing painting by two siblings who are more suspicious than the staff member they accuse of stealing it. But this isn’t the only missing painting, and at the once-glamorous Burton Makepeace Manor, another painting – a Turner – has vanished from its frame. MIA alongside it is their maid, who has left behind a Nancy Styles detective novel and a lingering aura of warmth blended with betrayal.

I initially overlooked the deaths that occur along the way. They seem peripheral at first, but they gain significance as the story unfolds through the eyes of its characters. The perspective of Simon – a faithless vicar with a throat complaint made me giggle, but Lady Milton stood out most to me. A sharp and delightfully unlikeable figure; I felt corrupted laughing at her inner thoughts and she reminded me of a nastier Joan Rivers.

This was my first dive into the Jackson Brodie series, and even though some early narrative quirks felt a bit clunky, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. Atkinson’s sense of humour shines through this novel, and as winter draws to a close, Death at the Sign of the Rook is the perfect easy, cosy engaging read with which to savour the season.