To begin, Atkinson is a brilliant writer and I love her style of mystery-writing. "Started Early" is no exception, as it features the return of Jackson Brodie, her protagonist, as well as the numerous incredibly drawn characters that populate an Atkinson novel. She writers with a wonderful knowledge of how people think and the way in which all her characters are realized on the page leaves me in awe.
The mystery is, of course, nothing to sneeze at and her pacing is excellent - she leaves the right number of clues, lets us follow along and guess, but makes sure there are enough surprises in there to prevent boredom,
All in all, Atkinson is yet another excellent example of why those who dismiss certain contemporary fiction because it is nominally genre are missing out on some of the best writers we have.