Publisher, Time Warner Audiobooks (October 2006)

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On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a theater witness a sudden act of extreme road rage: a tap on a fender triggers a nearly homicidal attack. Jackson Brodie, ex-cop, ex-private detective, new millionaire, is among the bystanders.

The event thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a washed-up comedian, a successful crime novelist, a mysterious Russian woman, and a female police detective. Each of them hiding a secret, each looking for love or money or redemption or escape, they all play a role in driving Jackson out of retirement and into the middle of several mysteries that intersect in one sinister scheme.

Kate Atkinson "writes such fluid, sparkling prose that an ingenious plot almost seems too much to ask, but we get it anyway," writes Laura Miller for Salon. With a keen eye for the excesses of modern life, a warm understanding of the frailties of the human heart, and a genius for plots that turn and twist, Atkinson has written a novel that delights and surprises from the first page to the last.

About the Author: Kate Atkinson's first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was then chosen as the overall 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year. She is the author of two other critically acclaimed novels, Human Croquet and Emotionally Weird, and a collection of stories, Not the End of the World.

About the Performer: Robin Atkin Downes has been working as a professional actor for over eighteen years. He is proficient in over forty dialects and has acted in over one hundred of the top interactive titles in the industry. Robin's fans recognize him from Babylon 5, where he was the recurring character Byron. He has guest starred on Charmed, Nash Bridges, CSI: Miami, Beverly Hills 90210, Arliss, Angel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His London theatre credits include the starring role in Dracula, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II, The Homecoming, and What the Butler Saw.