The Cuckoo’s Calling

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (Book 1)

The Cuckoo’s Calling is a traditional detective story from Robert Galbraith a/k/a J.K. Rowling featuring a down on his luck private investigator and his indispensable and attractive female assistant. Rowling, author of the legendary fantasy series Harry Potter, takes this well-worn genre and makes it uniquely her own.

Cormoran Strike is a one-legged veteran of Afghanistan and a private investigator. Barely eking out a living, he is down to one client and is living in his office.

One March morning, Robin Ellacott arrives from the temp agency, and John Bristow arrives from out of the blue. Of the two, the arrival of Bristow, a paying client, is the most obviously beneficial, but Robin’s arrival is lucky for Strike too.

Bristow asks Strike to investigate the suicide of his supermodel sister, Lula Landry, known as Cuckoo.

Desperate for the money, Strike takes the case without much hope of contradicting the official cause of death. But using the dogged skills he honed as a military special investigator, Strike solves the case and then some.

Not ground breaking in the way of Harry Potter, but an enjoyable read. I hope this is the first of a series of novels featuring Strike and Robin.

Update: Several more novels in this series; some better than others