A Murder Most Fowl

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

The second detective novel in what I hope to be a very long series. Cormoran Strike is described in JK Rowling's latest crime novel as having pube like hair,being on the bulky side and not that attractive. He is ex SIB and a war veteran who had his leg blown off in Afganastain he is also the illegitimate son of a famous rock star a fact he does not wish to scream from the rooftops. After his success at solving the Lula Landry case (read Cuckoo,s Calling for more on that). Strike has almost managed to crawl out of the crippling debt he was in before the case. He now has steady influx of clients and his business is very sucessful. He has now taken on full-time the temp he hired in the previous novel the lovely Robin Ellacott.

The story starts with a visit from Lenora Quinne her husband has gone missing and she wants Strike to find him as she is under pressure financially. Her husband is the well known writer ,Owen Quinne and this is not the first time he has done a disappearing act on Lenora but with a mentally challenged daughter to care for Lenora is desperate for her husband to return home. She believes he has gone to a writers retreat and as she has been unsuccessful in her attempts to get any answers out of his publishers or agent she has called on Strike to get things done. 

What should be a simple open and shut case becomes complicated and Owen is nowhere to be found. Early on in his investigation Strike discovers that Owen has written a book Bombyx Mori that has depicted many people in his industry and in his personal life in a very unsavoury fashion. So when Strike eventually discovers Owen Quine brutally murdered in an extremely bizarre and grotesque manner the list of suspects is long.

Things take a turn for the worse when his client is arrested for her husbands murder and it becomes a race against time for Strike and Robin to prove Lenora's innocence.

I have to say I had the killer pegged from about a third of the way through but the author still managed to make me second guess a few times as the story went on which kept things interesting. It was an engaging, well drawn and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Cormoran has now become my second favourite detective coming second only to Serlock Holmes. I look forward to reading many more of his adventures in the years to come.

Rating:

***** 5/5