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Elarica Johnson, who played the waitress flirting with Harry in The Half-Blood Prince, has just been cast as Lula Landry, one of the main characters in the BBC/HBO adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series 

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Part 2 Chapter 10 - AKA Case Details

The next morning, while Robin’s riding the tube into work, Strike texts her to let her know he won’t be in when she arrives and tells her that he has hidden the office key behind the toilet. When she first receives the text and sees that it is from Strike, Robin is “momentarily excited,” as she had been when she had seen Duffield in the paper.

However, the message from Strike quickly expels her excitement.

When she had seen Duffield in the paper, she had been at lunch with Matthew and his friends. She left in the middle of one of Matthew’s stories so that she could text Strike about the newspaper. Matthew later chastised her for this behavior, saying she was “maintaining that ludicrous air of mystery.” Because of Matthew’s attitude (and still complete lack of support for her interests and desires) and Strike’s apparent lack of appreciation, Robin is upset at both of them for making her feel foolish.

As Robin’s mood stews, Strike is out in London, coincidentally passing the statue of (Ant)Eros and “the scene of the most romantic moments of Robin’s life.”

It’s interesting how we move from Robin lumping Strike and Matthew together as the causes of her bad mood (again, a linking of these two men), and then immediately we see Strike unwittingly strolling through parts of London that are romantically charged for Robin.

Strike is out examining the club that Deeby Macc visited the night he arrived and Lula died. The night before, Strike looked up Deeby’s movements and his apparent interest in Lula. Deeby saw Lula as his “ideal woman and soul mate,” and had mentioned her in three of his songs. All of this helped fuel the media frenzy surrounding his potential residence in the apartment below Lula’s. After canvassing the club and making notes of parking restrictions, Strike turns to a cafe for some breakfast.

During this time, Robin calls him with his messages. Previously, Strike “allowed his unwanted temp’s calls to go to voicemail,” but he picks up Robin’s call. Either his previous temps were unwanted, or their calls were unwanted. In any case, Strike’s attitude towards this particular temp is quite different.

As Robin is going through the messages and curtly acquiescing to Strike’s requests for other things to be done, Strike realizes that Robin is upset. He quickly figures out that she’s hurt that he hasn’t acknowledged her text about the newspaper article about Duffield. He makes up a lie about not being able to respond when he received her text, but thanks her and asks her to try to set up a meeting with Duffield.

Immediately, Robin’s demeanor changes and she excitedly engages with Strike again. However, her good mood seems to be short lived. She appears to curse at Strike as she’s hanging up the phone after he doesn’t take his weekly death threat as seriously as Robin thinks he ought to.

Strike spends the rest of the morning scoping out other clubs and walking from where he believes Guy Somé lives to Lula’s apartment. All of this walking kills his leg by the time he heads to a pub to meet up with Eric Wardle.

As Strike buys himself a beer, he notices some women pretending to not notice that Wardle is checking them out. As he approaches Wardle, he thinks wistfully about how Wardle would never have been called “pube head” because his hair is the “enviable kind.” This sentiment hints at Strike’s low self-esteem, and perhaps indicates that Strike might feel as though he’s not on even footing with Wardle because of it.

They get right down to business, and Strike brings up a case about a police informant who had been fatally stabbed. Wardle immediately tries to play off whatever information Strike might have for him because the police already know who stabbed the informant. However, as Strike quickly points out, the police do not know where the suspect is.

Strike tells Wardle with whom the suspect is staying, and the general vicinity of the flat. Wardle asks Strike for the full address and Strike quips back, “I’ve just given you the name of the tenant and half the postcode. How about trying a bit of detective work?”

While it’s not mentioned, you can only imagine the look Wardle would have given Strike at this jab. Perhaps because of this, Wardle refuses to immediately provide Strike with “insider information” about Lula’s case, stating that what Strike just gave him could be worthless.

After Strike reveals that he’s working for Lula’s brother, Wardle seems to soften a little and asks Strike if Bristow is still fixated on the CCTV footage. Wardle then mentions that the police did try to find the men on the tape, but that their leads did not take them very far. He says that a Maserati's alarm had gone off around the time the men would have passed it, and reiterates just how cold and late it was that night. Wardle further suggests that there would not have been an innocent reason for two men to meet up on a street neither lives on.

Wardle later reveals that even if they had found either man from the footage, all they could have done was get an eyewitness account of Lula’s jump since there wasn’t any unexplained DNA in her flat. An important piece of evidence. 

Strike then brings up Tansy Bestigui, and Wardle sours. For a bloke who doesn’t want to give Strike much insider information, he’s sure dishing out quite a bit. Wardle explains how hysterically upset Tansy still was by the time he had arrived to the scene, and chalks all of her behavior and ravings up to drugs and dismisses the idea of an overheard argument. However, Strike persists with the idea that Tansy must have at least seen the body fall because of the security guard’s, Wilson’s, testimony that Tansy began screaming right after he heard the body hit the ground. Wardle acquiesces that it’s probable that Tansy could have seen Lula falling.

Strike asks whether the cops had searched the middle flat, and Wardle mentions that another cop, Bryant, had searched the flat before Wardle got there. Strike asks whether Bryant was the one to knock over the vase, and Wardle confirms. Freddie Bestigui had ordered the flowers for Deeby Macc because Macc frequently requests them on his rider. When Strike does not react to the mention of the rider, Wardle pushes the issue and explains what a rider is to Strike, saying, “I’d’ve thought you’d know about this stuff,” because of Strike’s father. Strike is immediately disappointed in Anstis for mentioning the connection to Wardle.

Strike asks why Bestigui had purchased the roses for Macc, and Wardle suggests that Bestigui wanted to cast him in a movie. However, Wardle harps on about Bestigui’s reaction to the smashed vase. When Strike suggests that it was odd for Bestigui to focus on the flowers when his neighbor just died, Wardle indicates that the police believe Bestigui was simply trying to draw attention from Tansy so that the police didn’t notice that she was high.

While questioning whether Bestigui could have been the one to push Lula, Wardle admits that it’s entirely possible that someone moving quickly could have gotten from the third floor to the first. However, because Tansy insists that Freddie was in bed, and that his DNA wasn’t in Lula’s apartment, they don’t believe he was involved.

The police further did not believe Wilson (his fingerprints were not in any suspicious places),  Deeby (on account of not having ever arrived to the flats), nor Duffield (extensive wolf-masked filled alibi) to have been involved.

Wardle tries to bring up Charlotte, and Strike stays on task, not even missing a beat. He obviously does not wish to go into such personal matters with someone he’s just met. While neither Anstis nor Wardle could have known about the breakup, it’s interesting that the relationship even comes up, especially in the middle of shop talk.  

When they leave (because Wardle told his missus he’d only be half an hour), Strike gets Wardle to agree that if the police manage to catch the stabbing suspect, Strike can have the file for Lula’s case.

Bits and bobbles:

An often used device, Robin’s environment tends to mirror her underlying mood. Or rather, her mood colors her perception of her environment. When she’s on the tube in this chapter, “everyone [wears] … tense and doleful expressions” (and she should be included in this “everyone”). However, when she first starts and is riding the high of her recent engagement, she sees everyone as being “gilded by the radiance of the ring.” Therefore, we can use the descriptions of Robin’s environments to understand her current mood.

When Wardle is checking out the girls at the bar, a red light glints off his wedding ring. In this instance, we have red being associated with adultery or, perhaps more generally, lust.

We see there’s a bit of a lie-wrapped-up-in-truth in this chapter, as well. We know (spoiler) that Bristow murdered Lula (and not either man on the CCTV), but that he’s insisting Tansy Bestigui is telling the truth (even though no one believes her).

Deeby put Lula in three (3!) of his songs. 

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art and edit by the talented @jxzabel

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From the Robert Galbraith twitter account

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Cormoran Strike started filming!!

It’s Strike and Robin outside The Tottenham!!!!!!!!

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An atlas of Cormoran Strike's world

While I was googling “cormoran strike meta” to see what else was available, I came across this absolute gem of a resource. I usually do a little bit of sussing myself while I’m reading through a chapter to see how realistic a walk would be or to just get a feel of the environment a character is in. This atlas helps cut down some of that research. 

The map can be broken into layers based on novel or by whether it’s relevant to Strike or Robin. Definite spoilers if you read the descriptions of the locations and you have not finished all three novels. 

Link to website with map and some discussion of locations within the series.

Link to map itself.

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Part 2 Chapter 9 - AKA A Fine Sunday Morning

After cleaning up at the ULU, Strike phones Bristow to ask about Rochelle. When John first hears that it’s Strike calling, he is very eager to speak with Strike. However, as soon as Strike asks about Rochelle, Bristow’s tone turns towards disappointment and annoyance.

Bristow makes it very clear that he doesn’t think Rochelle will be useful to the investigation in any sort of way. When Strike pushes the matter and suggests that maybe Lula and Rochelle fought, or, at the very least, Rochelle could tell them why Lula only stayed at Vashti for 15 minutes, Bristow quickly claims “that sort of behavior” wasn’t out of the ordinary for Lula. Bristow characterizes Lula as someone who has “brief enthusiasms for people and then dropped them,” and suggests that maybe Lula thought 15 minutes would appease Rochelle.

Because Bristow is obviously annoyed that Strike is pursuing Rochelle as a lead, Strike mentions that he has a contact with the police and is hoping to get the case file. Strike is hoping to justify the fee he has asked from Bristow, and Bristow takes the bait and is very excited with this news. Bristow lets Strike know that he’s trying to arrange a lunch with Tansy, and that he will ring Strike’s secretary with the information.

Strike reflects that having “an underworked secretary he could not afford” adds professionalism to his work. Yet another way that Robin is helping to bolster this venture.

Strike heads to the St. Elmo’s Hostel for the Homeless to try to find Rochelle. He’s met with some hostility and a slight unwillingness to reveal information. However, he learns that Rochelle hasn’t been at the hostel in some time because she (maybe) got an apartment; he also learns of an outpatient program Rochelle used to attend. Strike speaks with one of the inhabitants, Carrianne, who is adamant that Rochelle lied about how close she and Lula were, and that Rochelle was not upset when Lula died.

On his way out, Strike leaves his business card and takes a copy of News of the World because Bristow mentions it has a story about Duffield visiting Lady Bristow. He finds a pub where he peruses the paper; while there, he gets a text from Robin telling him to check out that exact story. He is amused by her text. Robin seems to be just a step or two behind Strike, here. She alerts him to leads he is already examining, suggesting she is following the right line of inquiry.

Bits and bobbles:

Bristow mentions how his uncle thinks everybody is after money.

Duffield visits Lady Bristow out of the blue, and a lot of paparazzi follow him. There’s the question of “who told the photographers” that Duffield was going to visit Lady Bristow, which seems to mirror the question of “who called off the paparazzi” the night Lula died.

While at St. Elmo’s, Strike plays the employees off each other. When he knows he isn’t getting anywhere with the first lady he speaks with, he drops that he is a private detective when another employee comes within ear shot. This person is extremely eager to provide information and gives up Rochelle’s name. 

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Holliday Grainger will play Robin in Cormoran Strike

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Part 2 Chapter 8 - AKA Strike’s Specter

A PROPER CHAPTER

There’s really no other way for me to discuss the opening sentence than to just quote and dissect.

“The knowledge that he would be sharing his office again on Monday added piquancy to Strike’s weekend solitude, rendering it less irksome, more valuable.”

Piquancy means excitement or adding a pleasant sharpness (like piquing one’s interest), so Robin is (transitively!) bringing Strike excitement/pleasure. She is adding value to his life, even if it is by making his isolation slightly more tolerable.

Strike becomes “sick of the smell of artificial limes,” and airs out the office. If we go back to what Wikipedia has to say about limes, this could signify that he has come across a thread of truth with regard to Lula’s death. On the one hand, I am completely reaching with this idea. I would also quickly get sick of the smell of artificial limes in a stuffy office. On the other hand, a “cold, clean breeze” wipes the scent from the rooms, and Lula has been intentionally tied with the cold and snow. But again, I am reaching because they’re not explicitly linked as they would be if the sentence read, “a cold, clean breeze wiped the rooms of the smell of artificial limes,” but they are in the same sentence AND it’s implied that the cold breeze removes the lime scent.

There’s another reference to Charlotte behaving more maturely than Strike anticipates. He finds a CD player he “thought he would never see again” in one of his boxes. Maybe the new boyfriend (to whom we still haven’t been introduced) helped pack up Strike’s belongings and wanted all evidence of Strike gone.

Guess what time Strike watches a football match? THREE pm. I might be reaching here, too. I have absolutely no idea what time football matches are usually aired. For all I know, they’re always on at three. But the fact that it’s explicitly stated (instead of “the afternoon match” or simply “the match”) is (maybe) interesting.

As the day goes on, Strike is haunted by his self-doubt and anxieties. There’s a line about how he eyes beer while he’s out buying instant noodles, which suggests a few things. For one, we know Strike is in an incredibly difficult financial situation at the moment. He needs to be careful how he spends the money he has. It’s possible that we’re to take away that his self-doubt is tempting him to be spendthrifty. However, there’s also a hint of potential alcohol abuse and possible self harm (“your life is in shambles, you might as well just drink the rest of it away”). Instead of following that road, however, Strike gives in to this “specter” by allowing himself to smoke at his desk instead of outside, which was imposed on him in the army.

Strike is rewarded with an Arsenal win, and he rallies to “[defy] the specter” and keeps working on the case, documenting what he learned from his interviews.  

While Strike’s working, Lucy calls. We’re given some more backstory on her (guess how many children she has? THREE.), and how Strike believes she’s ardently trying to prove that she is nothing like their mother. Lucy takes on a sort of mothering role over Strike, even though he is older than she is. She is also the relative of whom Strike is most fond, but their relationship is often strained. Lucy worries about Strike, and so Strike lies to keep her from worrying (and it’s not hard to imagine that Lucy knows Strike lies to her based on the conversation they have).

After arguing a bit, Lucy asks Strike if he’s coming to one of her son’s birthday parties, and Strike agrees (reluctantly and unsure of the date). They hang up, and Strike returns to his notes. He is eager to interview Tansy and Freddie, but the fact that they’re proving elusive heightens Strike’s frustration with life. Had he still worked with the SIB, he would have more authority and command. Strike turns to the internet, searching for more information relating to the case.

Here we have a mention of LulaMyInspirationForeva.com, so of course I googled it, hoping for anything. Someone does have it registered, but it timed out when I tried accessing it. There’s also a tumblr with just a few posts. Whoever has the tumblr was definitely aiming to recreate the fanpage (they’ve included all the information Strike mentions the site having, down to the typos), and it includes a photoshop (fan edit?) of the famous Guy Somé picture of Lula.

Strike goes on to read up on Duffield and his relationship with Lula. Finally, he finds himself on the Army Rumor Service website, which he hadn’t visited in months due to a row with Charlotte. She had reacted poorly to this website, believing that Strike had a desire for his old life compared to the life he had at the time. As he browses, his specter begins to creep back in; he goes to bed.

Bits and bobbles:

Strike adheres to many habits left over from his army days (e.g. not smoking inside, the way he makes notes about his cases), but breaks from these when he gives in to his “specter.”

The specter is definitely another example of Strike’s self-doubt, low self-esteem, and anxieties. He can keep it at bay, but it’s constantly nipping at his heels when he lowers his guard.

When Strike begins using the internet to fill in holes in his investigation, there’s a mention of Strike feeling “almost as much contempt for the occupation [of private detective] as Robin’s fiance.” This connects Matthew, Strike, and Robin. Specifically, instead of JKR naming “Matthew,” he is called “Robin’s fiance.” This hints that Strike may indeed be a love interest for Robin, and may perhaps be her fiance one day.

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Part 2 Chapters 6 and 7 - AKA Trips Down Memory Lane

These two chapters are relatively short in terms of analysis because they’re mainly exposition. They serve to provide a comprehensive timeline for the night and day before Lula died. There is a little bit from each chapter that I want to discuss, though. 

Chapter 6

This chapter opens on Strike walking through Brixton to meet Derrick Wilson and remembering when he used to live in the area. He and his half-sister Lucy had been home schooled at the time, largely in part because of their mother’s boyfriend of the time who believed that traditional schooling “reinforced patriarchal and materialistic values.” This lasted for about two (not three) months before their uncle found them and brought them back to Cornwall.

Strike meets up with Derrick at a cafe to discuss Lula. Derrick describes Lula as kind and caring, and how she made the effort to ask Derrick how his deployed nephew was doing. Lula was unlike the other people Derrick usually works for, the type who ignore “the help” -- a direct contradiction of the news article written of her. 

The two go through the night of Lula’s death, and Strike tries to determine the veracity of Mrs. Bestigui’s original statement of having heard an argument. Derrick did initially believe Tansy that she heard a man in Lula’s flat (whom Derrick believed to be Duffield). But when he checked Lula’s apartment, it was empty.

After going through the night of the incident, Strike starts asking questions about the day before Lula died. One very telling point: Strike asks about seeing people come and go. Derrick, with some prodding from Strike, does admit to seeing Bristow the day before, along with the cleaning ladies and the guy who serviced the alarms. However, Derrick never states that he sees Bristow leave.

Chapter 7

Kieran joins Derrick and Strike to talk about what he saw the day before Lula died. He recalls taking her to see Lady Bristow, and how off she seemed after her visit -- as though she were in shock. Kieran tells Strike about Lula writing on a blue piece of paper, and then meeting Rochelle very briefly at Vashti before going home. He indicates again Lula’s strange behavior because she originally told him she was going to Vashti for lunch, but then only stays for 15 minutes. 

Kieran goes on a bit about how close he and Lula were, seemingly to impress Strike. As Strike pushes Kieran about what it's like to be driver and whether Kieran still has the door opener to the garage, Kieran grows cross and short with Strike. It appears that Kieran does not like being reminded that fame is still very much illusive to him. 

Derrick and Strike appear to have an understanding and regard the younger Kieran in the same manner. Perhaps because of this, at the end of their meeting, Derrick agrees to let Strike come by to see the inside of the flats.

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The Musketeers’ actor Tom Burke has been set to star in Cormoran Strike, a new BBC crime drama series based on the novels that J.K. Rowling wrote under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

As Variety reported, the series —set to air on BBC One— consists of three-parter The Cuckoo’s Calling, two-parter The Silkworm and two-parter Career of Evil. Each episode will last an hour; they will be produced as three separate event dramas and are set to begin filming this fall in London.

Burke will play the title character, a war veteran-turned-private detective operating out of a tiny office in Central London. Though he’s wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike’s insight and background as a military police detective prove crucial in solving three complex cases that have confounded the police.

“I’m overjoyed to be immersing myself in the role of Cormoran Strike, who is as complex as he is larger than life” said the actor in a statement. “I know I’m joining an extraordinary team of people on a series that for me is peppered with moments of real emotional depth and meticulously grounded in the page-turning momentum of these novels. Cormoran’s world is rich and raw.”

“I’m thrilled about the casting of Tom Burke, a massively talented actor who’ll bring the character to perfect life,” added Rowling. “Cormoran Strike is pure joy to write, and I can’t wait to see Tom play him.”

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Part 2 Chapter 5 - AKA Fates and Mirrors

The one week of Robin’s role as a Temporary Solution is nearly up. Strike gave her the spare key to let herself in on her last day, and she is hurt by Strike’s apparent desire (which she bases off him calling her last day “her last day”) to be rid of her. She knows that he can’t afford her, but she really enjoys this job.

Robin is still hiding how she feels about the job from Matthew. She knows he won’t understand or approve. Robin is masking very important parts of herself from her fiancé.

Again, if we accept that the job also represents Strike, it is clear that Robin is also concealing how she really feels about Strike from Matthew. Possibly she is just toning down her enthusiasm because he very clearly does not like Strike already.

We get our first direct reference to Robin’s past. She was studying psychology before “an unforeseen incident had finished her university career.”

Mrs. Hook, Strike’s only other client, arrives early for her appointment and before Strike. Robin makes her tea using cups and tea bags Strike has purchased after Robin told him about how Mr. Crowdy acted. Strike is being protective of Robin. This is interesting because she’s only to be working there for a week. He could have easily just asked her to put up with interacting with Crowdy, or even told her to stop offering tea to his clients. Instead, he purchases cups and tea for the office so she won’t have to encounter Crowdy anymore.

There’s this moment between Mrs. Hook and Robin where Mrs. Hook comments on never having seen Robin before, and Robin simply says, “I’m temporary.” There isn’t a description of Robin’s reaction to saying this, but given the paragraphs above, you have to imagine that Robin is saddened, at the very least. What is more, any visual clues we may have gleaned are lost because Mrs. Hook is absorbed in herself and doesn’t even acknowledge Robin’s response.

Robin takes all of this in stride and plows on with small talk with Mrs. Hook, who is the first to drop the bomb about the identity of Strike’s father. As soon as Robin realizes that Strike’s father is the famous rockstar Jonny Rokeby, she notices that Strike is at the door of the agency. She hurries to tell him that Mrs. Hook is early for her appointment and wonders if he would like to tidy up his inner office before seeing Mrs. Hook. Strike, who is bringing the boxes from Charlotte’s up the stairs, declines Robin’s offer to help (is this a pride thing? He doesn’t like to accept help even though he clearly needs it? Or is it related to his desire to keep his personal life as private as possible? Perhaps the latter, given Robin’s sudden knowledge of his parentage, unbeknownst to him; there is also a hint earlier in the chapter about Robin wondering about Strike’s ‘mysterious personal life.’) and tells Robin that Mrs. Hook has been taken a pottery class to help ease the small talk.

When Strike comes in to the office, Mrs. Hook exclaims about Strike’s eye, which he brushes off. Robin helps to distract Mrs. Hook from seeing into the inner office. Once Strike has cleaned up a bit, he reemerges with the scent of artificial limes, and Mrs. Hook enters the office with ‘a terrified look at Robin.’ (Is Mrs. Hook terrified about being alone with Strike? Surely not. Perhaps she’s terrified for Strike given his battered appearance? Or is she terrified of the artificial limes? Is she terrified for Robin? Of Robin?)

The artificial limes: So I googled/wikipedia’d this topic because it keeps cropping up. There’s an interesting link between limes and cuckoos in Baltic mythology. The goddess of fate, Laima, would make decisions in a lime tree as a cuckoo. This fits in very nicely with this story. Additionally, women would pray and leave sacrifices under lime trees for luck and fertility (perhaps foreshadowing of future story arcs?). In Germanic mythology, lime trees were meeting places used to restore justice and peace (much like Strike does!). There’s also an association that lime trees are “the tree of lovers” (again, foreshadowing?). It’s worth wondering why Strike chose the artificial lime scented air freshener. In the States, this is not a very common scent. In any case, given that the lime scent comes up a few times, I think there is something hiding in its meaning. (I did a ctrl+F search for limes on my ebook, and the artificial limes are actually mentioned three times.) If any of the associations were supposed to be intentional, the likeliest would be the fate/Laima/cuckoo association.

Robin pretends to find something to do, but having been her efficient self, there isn’t even mail to open. So what is one to do? She looks up Jonny Rokeby on Wikipedia and reads up on Strike. Wikipedia confirms Rokeby is the father of Strike, and that Strike has a handful of half-brothers and -sisters.

Robin’s perusal of Wikipedia is interrupted by Mrs. Hook screaming. Robin is quick to her feet (perhaps because the screaming startled her, perhaps because she felt like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar) and opens Strike’s office to find Mrs. Hook beating Strike’s chest. Robin tries to comfort Mrs. Hook with tea and Mrs. Hook wails that she didn’t think her husband was cheating on her with her sister. Robin hastens to get tea.

So why was Mrs. Hook afraid of limes? Perhaps she was afraid of the truth. 

After Mrs. Hook is calm enough to be on her way, Strike goes out to buy sandwiches for lunch, and is in a good mood. Robin is convinced he is happy because he knows he will be rid of her soon.

Strike, as I mention in my last post, has a bit of a self-esteem issue. And he genuinely likes Robin. He goes out of his way to impress and protect her. Robin, at the very least, is enamored with the job (although Matthew has done his part to try to dissuade her of these feelings). She feels hurt and insulted that Strike appears to be glad to be rid of her. She wants to be a part of this, Strike’s work and life.

While they are eating lunch, they have a terse, conversation where both appear to have difficulty saying what they really want to.

Strike tells Robin he is interviewing Derrick Wilson later that day. Robin (who set up the interview) replies by stating Wilson was the “security guard who had diarrhea.”

Strike moves the conversation on to thank Robin for helping to take care of Mrs. Hook, and for her work that week. Robin tells him, “It’s my job” (to be an awesome right-hand junior detective in training). Strike, possibly picking up on this subtext, says “If I could afford a secretary…” And then doesn’t continue his thought (that he really wants to keep her on) directly. He goes on and says Robin will likely end up with a “serious salary as some fat cat’s PA.”

Robin is insulted by this, likely because of the insinuation that she’s looking for an easy, cushy job that pays a lot. She tells him that’s not the kind of job she wants. Which spurs an internal struggle within Strike.

He wants to keep her. He likes her company and she is good at her job. But the idea that he would be paying for “companionship” is off-putting, especially given that he doesn’t have the funds. It’s really interesting that he is struggling more with the idea of keeping her on as a “companion” than keeping her because she is good at her job and not necessarily having the money to do so. Further, the fact that she didn’t ask him about being the illegitimate son of Rokeby makes him like her even more. He really wants to keep her on. In a (sort of?) endearing manner, he likens this desire to the time he found a grass snake at age 11 and had pleaded with his aunt to let him keep it. I think the fact that an age is specified here (versus just saying the memory was from when he was a boy) is interesting because in JKR’s other works, 11 is a most magical age for children.

Strike leaves after wishing Robin well, and then pauses on the stairwell where “he had both nearly killed and then saved her.” This scene comes at a point where Strike repeats this acting. He has just “killed” her ambitions of working in her dream career, and he stands there, struggling with his instinct that “was clawing at him like an importuning dog.”

In an interesting mirror of when they first met, when Strike had to decide whether to chase after Charlotte, Robin has decided to chase after Strike, catching him standing at the top of the staircase.

Robin suggests they cut out Temporary Solutions, which would decrease Strike’s out of pocket costs. Strike warns Robin that she’ll be blacklisted from temp agencies. Subtextually, however, it seems as though he is warning Robin of what might happen if she hangs her hat with his. He’s already struggling to keep his business running, and if she associates with him, she could end up with a similar financial and personal future.

Robin replies to this, “It doesn’t matter.” She follows this with the fact that she has three (three!) interviews lined up already. Following the subtext, she is telling Strike that she is willing to stick with him, thick and thin. She has absolutely no way of knowing whether any of the three companies will offer her a position after she interviews. She may be confident that she will receive an offer, but there is always a chance she will end up with no offers. And yet, she is willing to take a calculated risk and remain with Strike.

Strike then “saves” Robin’s ambitions and agrees to let her stay on.

Robin is gleeful, and Strike grins at her. As he leaves, Strike “supposed he ought to be annoyed with himself,” but he has “a curious sense of renewed optimism” and no regret.

Bits and bobbles:

Jonny Rokeby’s birthday is the day after JKR’s (and Harry Potter’s).

Rokeby’s band’s name is ‘The Deadbeats.’ A very apt description of Rokeby in relation to Strike.

More instances of threes!

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Part 2 Chapter 4 - AKA Strike’s Four Boxes

After the short interlude with Robin and Matthew, this next chapter opens with Strike going to Charlotte’s to collect the rest of his belongings. He is apprehensive and still unsure whether she will be waiting for him when he arrives. However, when he gets to her flat, he knows he is alone there. It’s interesting that it’s only been a few days since they broke up and he has already mentally transitioned to feeling out of place in her neighborhood; he knew they wouldn’t last, it was just a matter of time before their relationship really exploded.

Because we have had Robin and Strike parallel each other several times already, I think Robin must also feel this way, deep down, about Matthew. Unfortunately, given that I have read the third book already and know what will happen, I think either Robin really does have a change of heart about her relationship with Matthew at the last minute or she is very committed to him for reasons unknown to us.

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Part 2 Chapter 3 - AKA Matthew's Bad Mood

Our first real encounter with Matthew! And it opens with him doubting Strike. They are destined to never get along.

Matthew does not like the fact that Robin admires another man. The text indicates this is because he thinks her admiration is naive and misplaced, but it’s really difficult to imagine Matthew being keen on Robin being fond of another man, regardless of the circumstances. To be fair, though, he has a bad initial impression of Strike already because of the boob grab incident.

Although this fight about Strike between Robin and Matthew is framed as starting because Matthew has had a bad day, it affects Robin’s perspective of her own day. She now thinks that the task given to her by Strike was pointless, and is now annoyed with Strike. So not only does his bad mood rub off on her, Matthew has the ability to retroactively affect Robin’s perception of Strike. What is more, Matthew continually belittles Robin, her role in the investigation, and the idea that Strike is an effective detective (which is, in part, due to him living out of the office).

We have a scene that pairs Strike and Matthew together. As Robin is cleaning up after dinner, she is angry and banging around the kitchen. Matthew relents a little and goes to try to reconcile by hugging her from behind and he “cupped and stroked the breast that bore the bruises Strike had accidentally inflicted.” Robin turns away from Matthew, not towards him, rejecting his apology. By not softening to his attempt at apology, she is implicitly choosing Strike from the pairing. 

Bits and bobbles:

Guess how many proper interviews Robin has this week? Three!

Second instance of Robin at the kitchen sink while Matthew is in another room.

State of her ring represents her relationship with Matthew. It is no longer glittering, but has a bit of frozen pea in it.

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Part 2 Chapter 2 - AKA Strike Shows Off

The walk Strike suggests takes them to look at The Runner’s route. Based on what he has seen previously of the CCTV, Strike does not hold out any hope that The Runner has anything to do with Lula’s death.

We have another parallel between Strike and Robin with the A-Z; Strike does not care how it looks to be consulting the guidebook, but Robin thinks, given his size, it wouldn’t matter if someone thought he were a tourist.

It’s quite disheartening that Robin has only been temping a month and has encountered a number of inappropriate situations during that time. I suppose this is the stark reality of being a woman, but that it’s still so commonplace is quite sad. In the course of the these few chapters/two days, Robin has encountered two uncomfortable situations where men catcall or hit on her, three if we include the boob-grab-save. These situations are likely on Robin’s mind as Strike asks her to go on a walk with him because she is wary of “flirtatious intent” from him. However, there was silence between the two of them during the walk to the intersection. This helps to alleviate any fears Robin has about any impropriety on Strike’s behalf. It seems that Strike acts more naturally when he is preoccupied; or rather, he doesn’t appear to be consumed with keeping a set distance between him and Robin.

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Part 2 Quote and Chapter 1 - AKA The Really Dreadful Article

The quote from Part One is about how one is more unhappy during times of misfortune after they have been happy. The quote at the start of Part Two, while also hitting on the ‘unhappiness theme,’ is about caring for others who are unhappy.

“No stranger to trouble myself, I am learning to care for the unhappy.” - Virgil, Aeneid, Book 1.

There’s an interpretation of this quote that we help others because we see ourselves in them, and that if we could not, we would be less inclined to help them. So we have a shift from the first part, where the unhappiness was detailed, to the second part, where action will be taken to help those who are unhappy, and in particular, between those who see themselves in the ones they are helping. We should expect to see this sentiment reflected in this next part.

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Part 1 Chapter 7 - AKA Charlotte the Lying Liar

Strike meanders around London while he waits for Robin to go home. We see another instance of him using his physical appearance to intimidate others to access the showers at the University of London.

As Strike returns to his offices, he waxes poetic about London this time of day. One might even say he’s glamorizing or romanticizing it. Could Strike be a hopeless romantic like Robin? He concludes that “many [hearts], after all, would be aching far worse than his.” Maybe? I mean, Strike just called off his relationship, his engagement, with a woman he has been with for at least a decade. As of this point in the story, we don’t know exactly why he has left her, but we can conclude that she has betrayed him in some unforgivable way. She is undoubtedly cruel. It’s nice to know that Strike can put his own heartache into perspective and find “solace in vastness and anonymity,” but he should at least allow himself the right to grieve this loss.

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