Monday, December 30, 2013

#48: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

A famous fashion model plunges to her death on a London street, but her brother thinks it was murder; it's up to down-on-his-luck private eye Cormoran Strike to find out the truth in The Cuckoo's Calling.

The Cuckoo's Calling was reportedly the first novel by Robert Galbraith, and it caused a minor sensation when the world learned it was actually J.K. Rowling writing under a pseudonym.  It seems more obvious now, as this novel is written more in her whimsical, humorous style, playing with character names and offbeat situations.

Strike is a fully-realized character, a former military policeman who lost a leg in the Middle East, and more famously the illegitimate son of a legendary rocker father.  His Girl Friday, Robin, a temp with a secret love of private eye life, is an interesting foil.


But The Cuckoo's Calling is definitely a novel for adults, and as far afield from Harry Potter as Rowling could go.  Why she wanted to write this under a pseudonym is certainly worth speculating on.

But nonetheless this is a solid, legitimate crime novel and I would hope--Rowling's outing as the author or no--that Rowling writes more about Strike and Robin. 

I checked this out as an audio book from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and finished it at the very end of the year.

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