Well, actually The Cuckoo's Calling is technically credited to Robert Galbraith...a pseudonym of celebrated Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Having recently read her novel The Casual Vacancy, I thought I'd investigate this Cormoran Strike mystery/crime series she started only four years ago...
The series title refers to the main character, who had part of one of his legs blown off while serving in Afghanistan. Cormoran Strike also has the circumstance of being the love child of a groupie and a famous rock star. With the first book The Cuckoo's Calling, he's in debt financially and looking to boot up his budding detective practice with more clients. In the meantime, young Robin Ellacott has come on board as a temporary assistant. Although her fiancé disapproves of her working for Strike, she finds detective work exhilarating and works hard to provide essential background material on the case Strike is investigating. And that case is the apparent suicide of Lula Landry, a supermodel who died falling from her apartment balcony a few months earlier. John Bristow, Lula's brother by adoption, disagrees with the suicide conclusion formulated by the police and hires Strike to see whether foul play was involved. And so the story develops...
Of course, I don't want to give away what happens in The Cuckoo's Calling, but I'll provide some general reactions. One is that in starting this series, Rowling appeared to be emulating the style of renowned English mystery writer Ruth Rendell in her Inspector Wexford series. But I felt that her main characters of Cormoran and Robin are a lot more likable than Rendell's irascible Reginald Wexford and his often annoying sidekick Mike Burden...Rowling is a master at character development. And it's all very, very English whether you're talking about either Rowling or Rendell. So yes, I liked this first installment in what promises to be a good mystery series. I suppose now I'm gonna have to read book #2...
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