One Good Turn (novel)

This article is about the novel by Kate Atkinson. For other uses, see One Good Turn (disambiguation).

One Good Turn
1st edition
Author(s)	Kate Atkinson
Cover artist	Neil Gower
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Crime Fiction
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print, audio & ebook
Pages	400
ISBN	0-385-60800-4
Preceded by	Case Histories
Followed by	When Will There Be Good News?

One Good Turn (subtitled A Jolly Murder Mystery) is a 2006 crime novel by Kate Atkinson set in Edinburgh during the Festival. 'People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a brutal road rage incident - an incident that changes the lives of everyone involved.'^[1] It is the second novel to feature former private investigator Jackson Brodie and is set two years after the earlier Case Histories.^[2]

Principal Characters

• Paul Bradley, lost in central Edinburgh driving a rented Peugeot when he brakes suddenly to avoid hitting a pedestrian who stepped out in front of his car
• Terence Smith a.k.a. 'Honda Man' driving a Honda Civic collides with the rear of the Peugeot and attacks the driver with a baseball bat, knocking him unconscious and proceeds to smash the windows of the Peugeot before returning to attack the driver again.
• Martin Canning, a successful author of crime novels (set in the 1940s and featuring a heroine called Nina Riley) witnesses the incident and throws his laptop bag at the attacker to stop him killing the prostrate driver. To Martin's surprise Honda Man does not respond but instead gets back in his car and drives off (to appear later in the novel with murderous intent). Martin stays with Paul and accompanies him to hospital.
• Jackson Brodie divorced ex policeman and now retired private detective is visiting Edinburgh with his girlfriend Julia (featuring in the first novel) who is appearing in a Fringe production. He witnesses the attack but before needing to intervene Martin's actions brings the incident to a conclusion. He leaves his card with Martin in case he needs his future assistance. He later takes a bus to Cramond Island where he spots the body of a young woman in the sea...
• Gloria Hatter, wife of millionaire builder Graham Hatter, currently under investigation for fraud and soon to suffer a massive heart attack whilst in bed with Tatiana, a Russian call-girl.
• Louise Monroe, a Detective Sergeant and single-parent who is called to Cramond to investigate the drowned woman and finds herself attracted to Jackson Brodie

Reception

Reviews are mixed, some positive for example Justine Jordan of The Guardian enjoyed the novel saying

'the finale, when the cast are manoeuvred together for a violent climax and the inevitable expostulations of "You? Here? Why?", does not slot the pieces together as neatly as the Russian dolls which stud the novel might suggest. But the pleasure of One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre'.^[2]

Whereas Amanda Craig writing in The Independent writes

'Unlike its dark and dazzling predecessor, One Good Turn is neither a good literary novel nor a satisfying detective story, though it had the potential to have been both'.

Television adaptation

The novel was adapted for television for the BBC in 2011 as the second two parts of the series Case Histories.

Cast

• Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie
• Simon Weir as Paul Bradley
• Brian McCardie as Terence Smith
• Adam Godley as Martin Canning
• Marion Bailey as Gloria Hatter
• Amanda Abbington as Louise Monroe

References

1. ^ back cover, Charwood large-print edition, publ, 2007
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/aug/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview13 Justine Jordan enjoys Kate Atkinson's excursion to Edinburgh

External links

• ReviewsOfBooks.com with links to several reviews
• Interview with Kate Atkinson about One Good Turn on NPR
• Unusual Suspects by Liesl Schillinger, The New York Times, October 29, 2006
• One Good Turn at the Internet Movie Database