"Troubled Blood" by Robert Galbraith

 

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Copyright: 2020

ISBN: 9780316498937

This is the fifth book in the Cormoran Strike series, and they keep getting better each time. It is very easy to get carried away reading this book, and allow the time to pass until you almost miss your bus stop, or realise it's getting pretty late and you'd better get some sleep before work in the morning.

Galbraith's characters are so well  conceived that they just jump right off the page. In addition the plotting is very intricate, but in such a way that if you want to try and figure out the puzzle before the detective you'll definitely have to pay attention.

The story itself revolves around a cold case from forty years earlier, and a young lady who wants to find out what really happened to her mother, a doctor, when she disappeared after leaving the clinic she worked at on a rainy night. This story also treats us to the developing relationship between Cormoran Strike & Robin Eldacott who are partners in the detective firm, along with the various other who work with them.

Excellent story. But for best enjoyment read the series in order, as the characters do change over the course of the novels. Looking forward to the next instalment.

"Lethal White" by Robert Galbraith

 

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Copyright: 2018

ISBN: 9780316422734

Lethal white is the fourth installment in the Cormoran Strike detective series by Robert Galbraith the synonym for JK Rowling. As with the other three books this one is excellent. The development of the two main characters of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott continues, with new challenges for the two of them both professionally and privately. Robin is now a partner is the detective agency, and proves invaluable to Strike, but her fiancee still is not happy that she works there, which causes some tension to say the least.

This instalment takes place a short time following the third novel "Career of Evil" which details the investigation of the Shacklewell Ripper. Robin is recovering from the wounds she received during the investigation, but is still experiencing PTSD from the attack, and Strike wants her back with him at the agency but finds it difficult to ask her to return.

Their new case begins with an extremely distressed and mentally ill young man visiting Strike and describing a murder he witnessed as a young boy. This one thing leads Cormoran and Robin into a maze of intrigue with twists and turns that involve government officials and their families, and over twenty years of history to be searched to find out the truth, a truth that nobody wants anyone to find out about.

An excellent addition to the series, looking forward to reading number five.