I was not sure how much this was meant to be a parody and how much serious. There were so many stereotyped elements, and certainly some funny bits, but I think that was not always the intention.  And that is not a good sign for humour.
The problem was maybe that I read it in translation, and it was, let's say, not of the highest quality.  A lot of the text was quite clunky and there were mistakes. Quotes of song (and other) texts were translated literally into Dutch (I guess the translator was too young to recognise Sting, let alone JB Priestley). 
I wouldn't mind trying something else by Kate Atkinson, but then please in the original English.