Robert Galbraith
Sphere, £7.99
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case. Strike is a war veteran – wounded both physically and psychologically – and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s complex world, the darker things get – and the closer he gets to terrible danger. The Cuckoo’s Calling is a gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London – from the hushed streets of Mayfair to the backstreet pubs of the East End to the bustle of Soho. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
it was perhaps not surprising to find Galbraith’s first true venturing into the crime genre so assuredly written, with that same attention to detail, that clever plotting, littering of clues and red herrings that has always served so well. The story unfolds at a gentle pace; for the most part focusing on Strike as he interviews the various characters involved and slowly starts to put the pieces of the jigsaw together.
The descriptions of London are wonderful to anyone who knows this city as it is, right now, recession, walking-wounded post Afghanistan, celebrity culture, paparazzi and all.
The Cuckoo’s Calling will surely be the first in a successful series.
