THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)
Written by Rich Rogers
It’s no secret that Robert Galbraith is the nom-de-plum of J.K. Rowling for writing mysteries. That may or may not be a good thing (more on that later). When she finished with the final Harry Potter book, she told people she was working on a mystery, and then surprised everyone with the execrable “Casual Vacancy;” under her own name no less (I still want the three weeks I spent trudging through that piece of refuse back. Yes, the opinions on it are split, but I stand by mine).However, things are much different with this one, and this is good.
The story is basic. Supermodel Lula Landry falls to her death from the balcony of her penthouse apartment in London. The police investigate and rule it a suicide–despite the lack of suicide note. Her brother, an attorney, doesn’t believe it. He believes she was murdered and hires private detective Cormoran Strike to find out the truth.
It’s a typical mystery story, but very well done.
Like the mysteries of Ann Perry, Galbraith/Rowling, writes more than just a mystery. It’s a look at the lives of the rich, spoiled, bored, and very unhappy.
In Cormoran Strike, we have a very interesting hero. He’s a wounded veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, who’s down on his luck. He’s just broken up with his fiancé, and is living in his office, and currently has only this one case to pursue, and can’t afford the temporary secretary who’s working for him. He’s got a past every bit as interesting as that of the case he’s investigating.
Here in “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” Rowling gets everything right that she messed up in “The Casual Vacancy.” She keeps the cast at a manageable number, and she doesn’t try to take on every social problem on the planet in one huge bite. Despite the fact that most of what happens is in conversations and interviews, the reader never feels bored.
Some have said that Robin–Cormoran’s secretary – is the Nora to his Nick and while she is the perfect foil for him, comparing them to Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles of “The Thin Man” (the book and a series of movies), is a little bit of a stretch. Maybe it’s because I’m older and know the book and movies very well. While this book sparkles with wit that was missing in “The Casual Vacancy,” there isn’t the back-and-forth banter, give-and-take you find in Hammett’s immortal, married, private detective and wife; though Cormoran and Robin do make a great team.
The storytelling is tight, but never rushed. What’s great for a mystery is that she shows you those moments when you’ve come across a clue, something important, and doesn’t beat you over the head with it. There is very little waste in her use of words–though sometimes she does try just a little too hard, but overall, things are revealed slowly and with great care and impact.
Being that this is a mystery, ostensibly being told by a man, about a guy who is pretty tough, the language is equally rough; which brings us to the decision to use a pseudonym. It was a smart move, or should have been. It would have allowed her to tell the story without alienating her younger readers.
But it appears she’s decided she doesn’t want to revisit the world of Harry Potter again, and almost immediately told everyone it was she who wrote the book. But the die with that was cast when she did “The Casual Vacancy.” The decision of which pretty much set it in stone (The bestselling romance writer Nora Robb has written mysteries under the name of J. D. Robb for years, but there’s a smaller difference between those two style and YA literature and mysteries).
With the rough language here–which works for the genre she’s writing in–she’s definitely closed the door–in my never-to-be humble opinion (thank you Dr. Laura)–on a future return to her golden boy, and golden goose. The boy, after all, did make her one of the wealthiest women in the world. And keeping your options open is always a good idea.
This is far from the disaster I was expecting after her first venture into adult fiction, making it a great mystery worth the time and money. I want to see what she did with “The Silkworm,” the next Cormoran Strike novel.
