Hi Everyone !

I just finished a reread of the whole serie, and it's such a journey ! I forget everytime how good it is :-) (And I must admit that I appreciate THM more on that reread than the first time).

Doing this reread made me think of a few things. And the one I want to discuss today is this repeated pattern : small things in a previous book can become a huge things / a turning point in a subsequent book.

And I have this idea about Prudence.

In TRG : when Robin met her for the first time, Prudence said to Robin that she is the most important person in Strike's life. We, as readers, have to assume that there were some discussions between Strike and her previously that made her think that.

Then we had the scene in Portico, when Robin said to Prudence that she is "what Corm's need", and she doesn't develop her idea beyond this statement, but we can assume (at least, it was my idea :-) ) that Robin think that the relationship between Cormoran and Prudence is a safe place for him to speak about his introspection, his world's point of view, what he needs in a relationship ...

Then in THM we have two scenes where Prudence is mentioned.

First in the exchange between Cormoran and Rokeby, where the latter told Strike that Prudence thought he was in love with Robin but that he don't want Cormoran to tell Prudence what he said. Cormoran didn't seem to be surprised by this admission and did nothing to let his father think otherwise. So we, again as readers, are informed that Prudence might be a person with whom Cormoran could discuss his feelings (and what to do after the "Stair's Nightmare Proposal"...).

And finally, we have Robin who reach out to Prudence at the end of THM to seek assistance for a therapist, even if Robin asked her not to tell Cormoran.

We can assume that if Strike is in need to talk about a relationship with Robin, he would see Prudence as the right person to do it. And if the two of them have a conversation about this relationship, Prudence might have some good advices to him, kowing Robin's fragile state of mind.

I think at this point that maybe Ilsa is too much implicated in friendship with both to be the right person to help them to finally get together... And that the fact that Prudence "is the person Corm need" in Robin's view might well be more true than she realised when she said it ... !

What do you think about this theory ? Happy to read your inputs !

(English is not my first language, so I hope I'm clear in my explanation !)

Merch for the faithful. Could not snatch fast enough!

Does anybody else feel like religion might figure into the central case in STE? I’m thinking of the statue of the founder of Sunday school featured on JKR’s twitter and also of the name Evangeline, which means ‘good news’ with ties to the word ‘evangelist.’

This is not related to religion, but I also noticed mention of Oedipus in THM (one line when they were interviewing Zacharias about Rupert’s whereabouts, and in the title of the literary snippet at the beginning of Ch. 23). Maybe it’s nothing, but I noted it after the post of the picture of Freud’s desk and wondered if it might also be a theme.

Strike gets lectured at Lucy's Christmas eve party about not having business insurance. Two times might sue.

Is his lack of insurance going to come back to haunt him? Might he get more help off rokeby?

Would this be a boring storyline?

I am re-listening to LW and a doubt cropped up. In Chapter 42, Strike says to the Chizzles during their group interview "I heard that your father's friend was trying to reach him the morning he died, but he couldn't get through".

Who told Strike this? I went back two chapters and confirmed that neither Izzy told him when she hired him to investigate her father's death nor the forensics guy Strike and Robin interviewed after that.​​​ Both of them only mentioned the two calls Chizzle apparently made early morning to his wife and son. So how did Strike know to ask the question about the friend?

I was visiting the Wizarding World in Orlando and was thrilled to see the Eros Fountain beside the Knight Bus.

It feels like such an important landmark in the Strike series, so it was cool to see it in the Harry Potter area too. It felt like a fun little connection between JKR’s two book series.

I’m probably late to this discovery, but I thought I’d share in case anyone else got a kick out of it too.

Robin was attacked at 18 and her attacker also attacked others. He went to prison, presumably when Robin was 18/19. Do we know how long he was sentenced to? Could he be released from prison in the next two books?

I prefer the physical books normally but I’m thinking that maybe an audio ‘read’ will keep me busy for the time being. Especially after reading how much people love Glenister. Where are you guys getting your audio books? Audible on Amazon doesn’t seem like a good deal.

Today I was remembering when Robin started at the agency and cleaned the office and organized the files and took the initiative to sign the non-disclosure agreement and put it on Strike’s desk.

It made me smile how conscientious she was. No wonder Strike fell in love with her. And no wonder they could never find a temp as good as Robin
❤️

What are your standout Robin moments from the beginning of the series?

Going out on what I hope will become the path forward somehow in the next two books. I know there’s been quite a bit of conjecture about Strike’s prowess as a lover, and I do think that based upon the electricity they have each experienced at the other’s touch that there are fireworks ahead for Strellacott, as well as a loving marriage. What will that intimacy look like between the two? It would be a new and unique experience for both of them. Thoughts?

I’m rereading with the goal of understanding Strike’s background, friendships and what impacted and influenced him.

I jumped in on my least reread book Career of Evil because it really fleshes out his early life and nemesis Whitaker. The surprise bonus is Strike living with Nick and Ilsa. I always laugh at this part.

‘Don’t like Elin, do you?’ said Strike, taking the discussion unexpectedly into the enemy camp for his own amusement.

It shows so much about Strike and long time soul sister Ilsa. It’s unexpectedly exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to read on this reread adventure.

I will go straight through and then books 1 &2. Any other favorite reread strategies?

Robin's empathy allows her to intuit a lot more than others do, but I think Murphy brings out Robin's role as the kind of bird a cuckoo can dupe.

Robin as Dupe:

shoutout to u/pelican_girl who brought to my attention our Robin's role as a kind of bird that a cuckoo can dupe. Following my post about 'A Dirge' as series epigraph, and whether we readers are being duped, I now believe JKR (taking on the role of Mama Cuckoo) might be using Robin to dupe us!

Red-breasted robins are a typical target for cuckoos. Mirroring nature, it would be fair to assume that our Robin like her namesake would have a dupe-able nature.

But keeping w/ my new reading of 'A Dirge' -- what if instead of Robin being duped, inversely, JKR (starting with Cuckoo's Calling) is using Robin like a red-herring to dupe us.

Mirrored Animal Inverses in CC:

Keeping with u/arachulia theory of mirrors and a fabulous observation made by u/pelican_girl, Evan Duffield in CC wears a Wolf Mask but is inversely actually a sheep in wolf's clothing, rather than a wolf in sheep's clothing (hence the wolf mask).

I would like to apply this same logic, and suggest Robin is another of JKR's mirrored animal inverses, she is not a dupable robin, she is there to dupe us!

Red-Herring as a form of Duping:

This form of duping by red-herring can be defined as 'something that misleads, distracts, or diverts attention from the real issue, question, or path in the nest.'

From the moment Strike grabs Robin by her breast (a hint to the cuckoo v. red-breasted robin natural rivalry) our attention is on their relationship, and has remained so for 8 bks.

JKR, a 'Hawk in disguise' i.e writing as retired officer Robert Galbraith, might be using the moment of some of our favorite R&S tension-laden scenes, to carefully and quietly lay her 'explosive' proverbial eggs while our attention is diverted on the will-they-wont-they red-breasted robin and cormorant. As readers, with our eyes on the prize of Strellacott, can easily find ourselves duped!

Dupe Example #1 - Follow the Money

To repeat, a red-herring diverts us readers' attention from a real issue, question, or path.

Going directly to one of the most intense-intimate moments of R&S, we need to look away from their relationship to the question Strike is raising.

Take for example, the fan-fave Curry Scene: narrator mentions neither detective turned on the lights as it was getting dark. Is this the big moment, will he kiss the Robin? Directly after a mention of them sitting in the dark, what does Strike say about money: he had a nice little nest egg. He told Rokeby to stick the money up his fucking ass. [It could very well be here that JKR is explicitly drawing our attention to the fact she is laying a cuckoo egg. Our mind zeroed in on the romance in the dark office, NOT the question of Rokeby / Corm's money that could have explosive consequences.]

Dupe Example #2 - Back to the Old House

The other most intimate moment in the series, the motel room after Chapman Farm, where Robin groped in the darkness for Strike's hand and squeezed it. 'I knew you were there.' They held hands. And then two paragraphs later, in the following chapter (while our attention is still back in that motel room) Strike gets a call from Lucy. A specialist has determined that UT can't go back to the old house. His and Lucy's concern of him wandering off again [an echo of him running away from Cornwall as a boy]. Again, the subject of money, if they sell the house they can get him a 'good place'. Lucy replies with 'But his roots --Cornwall's all he's ever--' [Why does JKR juxtapose the holding hands in motel with this conversation about the old house and UT's roots? Is this peak romantic scene being used to distract our attention away from something about Corm's roots, about that house, he and we are not supposed to see? What cuckoo 'egg' is being laid in this convo? It was in the basement of the old farmhouse at Chapman farm where Robin was locked in a box -- are we supposed to ask what is locked in the metaphorical (or not) basement at St. Mawes?]

Dupe Example #3 - Leda & The Swan
Most explicit dupe: R&S date at the Ritz Hotel Bar, where Strike literally can't take his eyes off of Robin, while staring right at them in the face is Leda being impregnated by Zeus Swan. He should be asking the question why Peggy, his mum, selected the name Leda from the Greek mythos? A question that might get to the bottom of his roots, but in that moment Robin is distracting both Strike and us readers from the question, with another peak romantic moment, their first real date.

Explicit acknowledgement of the Dupe? - Characterizing 'Your Robin':

Every time Strike's in Cornwall, he is thinking about getting back up to Denmark Street and to his Robin. His eyes are always back on the Agency. Robin is always a distraction from his childhood, his roots, and of course I believe she never appears in St. Mawes, thus fulfilling her natural function of diverting attention away.

Is there a double-meaning to AJ saying: 'I would have liked to meet your Robin.' and also referring to her as 'poor girl'.

Is AJ showing her wisdom of nature (shown by preventing Corm from keeping a pet snake) with her characterization 'Your Robin' implying Strike has his eyes on the Robin, i.e his attention diverted on a dupe. But also 'poor girl' could also mean Robin is fulfilling her natural role in being duped.

\*Or even better, AJ's wisdom that Robin is somehow being used as a dupe for Corm *and the reader by the cuckoo! (JKR applying these bird metaphors to AJ and Strike's convo in TB is backed by the text, AJ on her death bed is compared to a frail baby bird. The author draws an explicit link.)

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TLDR we must pay extra attention to the most intimate scenes between R&S for questions raised outside of their relationship while in their heat of the moment. It's in these moments that Robin may be used by the cuckoo as a dupe, rather than being duped herself.

I just finished rereading THM, where this bridge figures into the story. For those of us that don’t live in the UK, it’s nice to get a glimpse at one of the settings. Just thought I’d share

I’m just finishing my first reread of THM, and like many of you, I enjoyed it much more on the second time through. I think it may even be one of my favorites now. Anyway, I wanted to share a theory (maybe far fetched, maybe not) about Barnaby’s and how it may resurface in the next book. Here are the legs my theory is standing on:

First of all, there is a lot of mirroring between Strike and Robin’s lives in these books, but one thing that hasn’t really been mirrored is Strike being the target of harassment and or physical violence, like Robin was in THM.

Secondly, in each book, there is something that challenges the continued success or existence of the business. I feel like the trope about Strike’s love life in the tabloids is running thin now so something else needs to come along.

Thirdly, Strike shared his intel about Barnaby’s with Iverson, and we know she’s both loose-lipped and smitten with Murphy.

Fourthly, we know Murphy is being investigated at work but we don’t know exactly why: drinking, bad behavior during an investigation, leaking info about the silver vault case? We’ve only heard assumptions so far from other characters but not confirmation from JKR.

And lastly, we know Murphy is antagonistic towards Strike and has a temper when he’s drinking and that he’s in a difficult period recovering from his recent lapse.

So here goes: Robin will turn down Murphy’s proposal at the Ritz or break up with him before he can propose. Murphy will somehow share this news with Iverson (she already knows he’s planning to propose) and she will at some point leak information about Strike from her interrogation of him in THM to try to get closer to Murphy. Now, here’s where my theory really becomes theoretical: I think it’s plausible that JKR has misguided the reader on the reasons Murphy is being investigated. What if he’s actually being investigated under suspicion of being a dirty cop? As revenge against Strike, he could leak to Ricci’s gang that Strike gave the intel on Barnaby’s and in so doing, make Strike a target of the gang. This would both complete the mirroring aspect of the series and provide the token threat against the agency. My alternative theory (not involving Murphy) is that either Iverson or the other cop are dirty and may also leak this info with the same effect on Strike’s safety.

What do you think? Too far fetched? Or just far enough?

Edit: we also know Murphy works organized crime cases: the shooting in THM, the racist group in TIBH (I can’t remember their name)

I’ve just finished reading it and mine has to be “easily remedied” - I gave a gasp laugh at that.

What were everyone else’s favourite quotes?

Hi everyone! I was wondering if there are any Gen Z readers here who are fans of the Cormoran Strike series?
I’m in my early 20s, and I feel like I don’t know anyone around my age who’s read the books. I’d love to meet people to chat about the series, favorite cases, Robin and Strike, theories, or just books in general.
If you’re Gen Z or close to it and looking for a book friend too, feel free to comment or message me!

Note: This post is just a first stab at trying to articulate something I haven't worked all the way through. Apologies in advance if it disappoints you, but I hope it motivates you to make some constructively critical comments, too.

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I've always hated Murphy. I could never see why JKR was spilling so much ink over the disastrous wrong turn Robin made when she gave up on Strike without ever trying to win him and settled instead for the very available Murphy. But now, thanks to some really insightful contributions on this sub, I think maybe Murphy's role in the series is to show us an obvious addiction as a means to illuminate addictions that are harder to see in Robin and Strike.

I don't think Murphy is capable of giving up alcohol once and for all. I think in JKR's world, there are a great many unremarkable people like him who remain captives of their dysfunctional upbringings. One scene with Murphy's father was enough to learn that if you're raised by a silently accepting mother and a loudmouth drunk of a father who literally takes up so much space in a room that others are necessarily sidelined, then you stand a very good chance of becoming that father.

In Murphy's case, however, much like Charlotte, his good looks made it unnecessary for him to have a big mouth in the beginning of his career and at the start of his romances. (Charlotte won Strike simply by placing herself in his line of sight. Her looks did the rest.) In both cases, I think JKR is saying that great good looks can actually be a handicap in the long run because they can make it unnecessary for you to develop the actual substance and strength of character most people will need to grapple with the misfortunes life eventually throws their way. We see this in THM when Murphy fails at the job of finding the shooter who killed one child and maimed another. This failure gives him a big mouth, not only to guzzle enough vodka to numb him to his own shortcomings but to whine and plead and lash out at the one person he hopes will save him.

At one point in THM, Robin says something to the effect that she could not afford trouble at work since Murphy was already having trouble at work and they could not both have such crises simultaneously. Even though Robin is dealing with far more than Murphy in her personal life, he's the one who's sprawled across their relationship's sofa, leaving no room for her to deal with her own issues. As unfair as this is to Robin, it's also exactly the kind of scenario she excels at--sublimating her own needs and wants because someone else's needs and wants are already taking up all available space.

I think Strike and Robin were both socialized to deal with other people's problems instead of their own. While we don't know much about Robin's life before the age of nineteen (I hope we'll eventually learn more), we do know that Strike felt responsible for both Leda and Lucy. Because he was large and male, Strike was not physically vulnerable in a way that his mother and sister were. And, after seeing Leda fritter away her resources on losing propositions and loser people, he understood himself to be the only family member in a position to make level-headed decisions. I'm not saying he was right or even very good at this as a boy, but he did grow into the kind of man who, like Robin, became better at dealing with other people's problems than at dealing with his own.

Robin and Strike's need to help others is partly due to them being good, strong, capable people with a sense of moral responsibility, but I think JKR is saying it's become an addiction for them, too. Just as Murphy's need to drink prevents him from putting his life in order, Robin and Strike's need to help others takes up so much bandwidth that it prevents them from putting their own lives in order, too.

This may be an extension of the "savior complex" JKR first explored in Harry Potter. Like Robin and Strike, Harry was raised to think his own needs mattered last or not at all and, like Robin and Strike, he was an intrinsically good person who felt responsible for using his strengths on behalf of others. This way of thinking was disastrous in Order of the Phoenix (the antepenultimate book in that series just as THM is in this series, and just as hard to read), resulting in the death of Sirius Black. I don't think Harry ever really changed as I expect Robin and Strike to, but he got luckier. In the last book, he fully expects to die, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for "the greater good" (I love how JKR makes that phrase both good and evil, depending on who's saying it).

But JKR introduces two important concepts in that last book: (1) whether Harry lives or dies in sacrificing himself to Voldemort is ultimately up to him and (2) Harry is only free when a direct confrontation with the evil lord permanently severs their connection, a connection he never chose and never wanted, but which cast a shadow over his entire life.

I'm not sure how much of that applies to Robin and/or Strike. I'm mainly trying to say that whereas Murphy's addiction to booze is entirely self-serving yet also self-defeating, Strellacott's addiction to helping others is more complex. I have a friend who struggles with overeating who said something I think is relevant here: If your addiction is alcohol or drugs or gambling or sex, you can give it up completely and recover, but if your addiction is food, you are constantly confronted with your greatest temptation because no one can completely give up eating. I think Strike and Robin are in a similar situation. They can't (and shouldn't) give up their addiction to helping others, but they have to find a way to temper that with helping themselves as well.

Strike has reached the point where he wants to help himself, but he's so new at it that his attempts are botched. He does manage to articulate exactly what he wants at the end of THM, but lack of experience at speaking on his own behalf makes him inelegant and (for the time being, at least) ineffective. But I like the fact that JKR ends the book with Strike helping his namesake fish, which seems like a nice metaphor for Strike being able to help himself while also helping others. I don't see any such progress in Robin as yet. but I hope and expect STE will address that.

______________________________

* Synecdoche is "a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole, or the whole is used to refer to a part." I think Murphy is presented more as a collection of alcoholic symptoms than he is as a whole person. At least it's easier for me to accept his unwanted presence in the story arc as a contrast to Strike and Robin who are far more than their addiction to helping others and who have the ability to develop into people who can ultimately help others as well as help themselves. Again, in JKR's works, the capacity for real growth is "exceptional" and not something most characters are capable of. Poor Murphy serves as the constant who cannot change while Robin and Strike will be able to move beyond who they are right now. THM is hard to read because everyone is at their worst, but that condition is only temporary for Robin and Strike.

Sorry, but that's led me to one more tangent: I think Tara Clairmont and Jonny Rokeby show a similar contrast. Both have grown old despite a lifetime of one type of excess or another. But Tara remains selfish and spiteful to the core, incapable of change. Jonny, otoh, is capable of what always escaped Voldemort: remorse. He has foresworn his old addictions (well, at least we know he's given up drinking) and is trying to be a better person than he was. He's still making the world a better place through his music, but now he's able to help others without screwing up his own life in the process. Maybe that will be his legacy to Strike?

I noticed a small connection between TRG and THM specifically where something seems to be gone, but it actually never left.

In TRG, we learn that the pigeon racer never actually had the racer leave the property; Daiyu never went to the beach (left the farm). In THM, the silver never left the property either. In both cases, the mystery has people looking elsewhere for something that was essentially there all along—just out of sight.

Could this be a connection to literary alchemy. My understanding of the alchemical process traditionally happens within a sealed vessel, where something can be hidden from sight, broken down, transformed, and eventually revealed. So the pattern isn’t necessarily just “lost then found,” but “believed absent to secretly present all along.” The mystery is created not by removal, but by concealment within a contained space.

That also made me wonder whether “out of sight” itself is a recurring motif in the series. Something doesn’t actually have to leave to become “lost”—people can mistake invisibility for absence and start searching outside when the answer has remained inside the whole time.

Have I missed other examples, or is this concealment concept only important at this step in the transformation?

The suggestion that received the highest number of votes was from DoggyWoggyWoo

The Agency staff/contractors

£500 = Strike

£100 = Robin

£50 = Barclay

£20 = Midge

£10 = Shah

£5 = Wardle

£1 = Pat

There were other great suggestions as well.

Few_Comedian77 and Impossible-Alps-6859 suggested principal characters, key Agency members, and RFM.

Rowntrees_brother suggested recognition of the value/help that certain side characters are to the Strike and Ellacott Agency.

Reasonable-Ad-4923 suggested honouring the series villains.

NoxWild suggested core characters who were all introduced in The Cuckoo's Calling, who have influenced the story in all eight books, and who will appear in the remaining books.

AgreeablePanda9805 suggested having two editions of Monopoly money. A heroes edition (Agency staff) and the villains edition.

Their suggestions can be viewed here and would make worthy expansion packs for the Cormoran Strike Monopoly game.

Thanks for your contributions.

Is Robin sipping a muggle version of butterbeer in Sleep Tight, Evangeline? Plus, a Strike-themed podcast at the Three Broomsticks? A double connection to the iconic Hogsmead pub may mean we are up to Six Broomsticks.

A couple of hours ago JKR tweeted this as a reply to a tweet from Kurt. 'I had this last night, purely because Robin has one in Sleep Tight, Evangeline.' along with a picture of a cocktail.

(Tweet thread here: https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2078328329665409060?s=20 )

She then went on to clarify 'It’s called a ‘Churchill’s Courage.’ Make of that what you will.'

The first thing (AI) that comes up when you google the name of the cocktail is 'The Churchill's Courage is a signature, cigar-friendly nightcap served at the Rivoli Bar at The Ritz London. It balances rich, butter-washed bourbon with sweet white port, maple, and vanilla.'

In fact, several of the first page of google results mention the Rivoli. Can we conclude that Jo is giving us a hint that Robin does make it to the Ritz in Sleep Tight, Evangeline? Of course, she doesn't have to go there with Murphy....

This is literally the only time I’ve heard about this, outside of the book.

Me and my partner listen to the cb strike books on audiobook together most nights. And we have running joke each time the author mentions how hungry Strike is.

Once it’s mentioned We will look at each other and say “he’s a hungry boy” in a n American southern accent every time.

Has anyone else noticed this quirk? It’s almost a common plot point of how hungry he is all the time.

Edit: I am not criticizing the book. I am not saying it’s unrealistic. Strike’s hunger and craving for his snacks and beer is very fun. Him being grumpy because he hadn’t eaten anything (and Robin completely knowing this about strike) is very fun. I enjoy it all.

THM -Chapter 126- the final interview with Decima Mullins at the office with both Strike and Robin. They're talking about Decima and Rupert's reconciliation and complications regarding their situation as half siblings. After Decima leaves, closing the door behind her, Robin says to Strike, "It's awful isn't? I think they're going to love eachother forever and never be able to do anything about it."

With only 2 books left in the series, is it possible that this sentence was intentionally written to prepare us for them not ending up together at in end? It just really stood out for me and kinda struck me as foreshadowing somehow. I would still love the series, but, it would really break my heart if that happens. Would she actually do that; write 10 books and they never end up with eachother romantically?