Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breath-taking new novel, both sharply funny and achingly sad, by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.
‘You know what killed the cat, don’t you?’ Julia said.

Yeah, Jackson thought, but it had eight more lives left, didn’t it?

Did he? He’d fallen of a cliff, been attacked by a mad dog, almost died in a train crash, been crushed in a bin lorry, blown up – his house had been, anyway – and that wasn’t counting a couple of near misses when serving in the police and the Army.

Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village in North Yorkshire, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son Nathan and ageing Labrador Dido, both at the discretion of his former partner Julia. It’s a picturesque setting, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for a suspicious wife, seems straightforward, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him across a sinister network – and back into the path of his old friend Reggie.

Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breath-taking new story, both sharply funny and achingly sad, by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.

Read by Jason Isaacs

'Atkinson weaves a magically absorbing world full of crossed paths and coincidences. Her sublime turn of phrase, impeccable gallows humour, beautifully drawn characters and complex plotting make for a fabulously entertaining and moving book. It can be enjoyed as either a standalone mystery or a very welcome reunion with an old friend.' — The Sunday Mirror
'A masterclass in what can be done with crime fiction, brilliantly using the form to expose what Atkinson bleakly describes as 'one more battle in the war against women.' — Sunday Times
'Big Sky is laced with Atkinson’s sharp, dry humour, and one of the joys of the Brodie novels has always been that they are so funny.' — The Observer