This is the first of the Jackson Brodie books and concerns three murder cases which took place in and around Cambridge decades apart. Each centres on a hidden family story, and all come to some kind of interlocking resolution. It's a good read. It is intricate, it's deftly and expertly written, and has very good female characters. There are more female than male characters and they are diverse and engaging. Also - and this may partly be a function of the reading by Susan Jameson - it is intermittently very funny, in a sad-but-true kind of way. It did make me laugh out loud in places.
It pops along at a good pace too. Compared to the austere Scandinavian murders I have been reading lately it is lively, colourful, and ironic. However, it does have tender emotion.
Most strikingly, Brodie is written to be attractive to a modern woman reader. He is sensible about sex, and gritty and miserable and everything. I was talking to a lecturer in English in the staff room at college this week, and I thought I would test out my theory. I mentioned I was listening to the book, and she was straight in there about how attractive Brodie is. Excellent.
Anyway, definitely recommended if this is the type of thing you like.