The cuckoo's calling
- 449 pages
- 16 hours of reading
A remarkable debut - a classic crime novel in the tradition of James and Rendell.
StrikeSeries
The Cormoran Strike series, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, follows Cormoran Strike, a war veteran with a troubled past who runs a struggling private detective agency in the heart of London. When a new assistant, Robin Ellacott, unexpectedly joins his team, they form an unlikely but powerful investigative partnership. Together, they confront high-profile murder cases, navigate the secrets of the city’s elite, and face personal challenges that test their resilience. Combining sharp dialogue, layered characters, and intricate plotting, the series offers a compelling blend of classic detective fiction and modern crime drama.
Recommended Reading Order
- 1
- 2
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives—so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before...A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.
- 3
Career of Evil
- 592 pages
- 21 hours of reading
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible- and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them
- 4
LETHAL WHITE is both a gripping mystery and the page-turning next instalment in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. 'I seen a kid killed . . . He strangled it, up by the horse.' When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic. Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott - once his assistant, now a partner in the agency - set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside. And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been - Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much more tricky than that . . .
- 5
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .
- 6
PRAISE FOR THE STRIKE SERIES'One of crime's most engaging duos' Guardian'Magnificent' Sunday Times'Finely honed, superbly constructed' Daily Mail'Terrific' Daily Express'A blistering piece of crime writing'Sunday Times'The work of a master storyteller'Daily Telegraph'Unputdownable'Daily Express'Highly inventive storytelling'Guardian'Superb . . . an ingenious whodunnit'Sunday Mirror'Come for the twists and turns and stay for the beautifully drawn central relationship'Independent'Outrageously entertaining'Financial Times
- 7
'The work of a master storyteller'Daily Telegraph'One of crime's most engaging duos'GuardianTHE SUNDAY TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023 Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organisation that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner Robin Ellacott decides to infiltrate the cult and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito amongst them. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her . . .Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike and Robin's story forward in the epic, unforgettable seventh instalment of the series. PRAISE FOR THE STRIKE NOVELS 'A blistering piece of crime writing'Sunday Times 'Unputdownable'Daily Express'A page-turner that will keep you up all night'Observer 'Superb . . . an ingenious whodunnit'Sunday Mirror 'Strike and Robin are just as magnetic as ever'New York Times 'Outrageously entertaining'Financial Times
