Double Wedding Band or a Three-Ring Circus? Why I'll be searching for Cuckoo connections in the Hallmarked re-read.

 A few posts back, I was pondering a revision of the Double Wedding Band structural model  (See here, here and here for background information) thanks to the unexpected observation of many substantial links between The Hallmarked Man and Career of Evil, noticed by me and multiple other readers. Fortunately, there is a relatively quick fix, which is to add a "big ring" chiastic model to the other major patterns seen,  the Double Wedding Band and the Leapfrog Effect. To do this, simply consider the full ten-part series as one giant ring, and make the five predicted turtle-back connections:  1-10; 2-9; 3-8; 4-7; and 5-6.  

This nicely accounts for the CoE-THM connections, as well as the LW-TRG connections and the TB-TIBH connections seen earlier. It also generates testable predictions (Yay!) for Books 9 and 10, namely, that they will connect to The Silkworm and The Cuckoo's Calling respectively. 

However, while looking at the single ring, I started playing with some other patterns, and, while I sometimes felt like I was playing with my old Spirograph. I came up with a new model that may let me scrap the Double Wedding Band entirely.  Find out more after the break. 

The Seriously Strikey Advent Adventure: A Holiday Re-read

 I've had a relatively relaxing Thanksgiving holiday so far, thanks mainly to our decision to go out for the big turkey dinner rather than spend the day cooking. My dauther, son-in-law and grand-dog Gibson arrived today, so we enjoyed a nice day-after Thanksgiving i We got a huge Christmas tree today and will spend much of tomorrow decorating and watching football; my family never misses the Iron Bowl. 

It will probably be a few morew days before I get my office tree up, since I am having a light fixture installed and don't want to risk t getting knocked over in the installation process. But, I am especially excited to share a new ornament that was gifted to me by reader "Chilly Hollow." It's a beautiful needlepoint Denmark Street office, complete with holiday lights. Note the tinsel tree someone (presumably Pat or Robin) set up in the office window, and the conspicuous lack of decor in Strike's attic flat windows.  I really appreciate this reader's kindness and can't wait to get the Strike tree set up. 

I've been debating when to start the detailed re-read of The Hallmarked Man, and finally decided on a plan, at least through year's end. I'm going to try biweekly posts for the month of December, each overing 5-7 chapters or roughly 50 pages. This will allow me to get through Parts 1-3 before Christmas, and end with the lovely unveiling of Strike's charm bracelet gift to Robin just a couple of days before Christmas. For those wanting to read along, here is the schedule:

Tuesday, December 2nd: Chapters 1-7

Saturday, December 6th: Chapters 8-14

Tuesday, December 9th: Chapters 15-19. 

Saturday. December 13th: Chapters 20-25

Tuesday, December 16th: Chapters 26 -30

Saturday, December 20th, Chapters 31-36. 

Tuesday, December 23rd:  Chapters 37-41

I'll decide later whether to keep up that pace or change it up a bit in the new year. 

I will be looking both for previously missed clues to the mystery and insights into the mental health of both our protagonists,  especially Robin. In addition, I'll be, as always, on the lookout for thematic connections to other Strike books and to the Harry Potter series, in hopes of clarifying which Structural model works best for this series,  I hope many Strike Fans will read along.  In addition, please tune into the Strike and Ellacott files podcast every other Thursday; those ladies always have fascinating insights. 

Tak care and happy holidays to all of you who make the Farting Sofa Faculty Lounge merry and bright. 

Newest addition to my Strike Christmas ornament set.

Like Midge's ex Beth (aka, the original Buffypaws) I have a fondness for Christmas ornaments. I have an entire tree to display my Harry Potter one. Given that Hallmark hasn't jumped in with any Hallmarked Man limited editions--- or any other Strike book for that matter, I've had to get creative. I knew when I traveled to the UK in 2023 I would be on the lookout for things I could co-opt for that purpose: it paid off with a Hampton court clock, a Paddington Bear in a Fortnum and Mason bag, a Cynthia Phipps Anne Boleyn and a Betty's Tea House napkin.  Last year, Santa brought me a beautiful glass Land Rover and a White Horse of Uffington painted (alas, not carved) on a wood disc.  

While I am not by nature a crafty person---  I certainly couldn't crochet the beautiful Strike and Robin dolls that others have made--- this year I was determined to try to make some sort of Strike ornament for myself.  Unfortunately, I have made several attempts at origami swans without success. I have done some Harry Potter craft swaps at Misti-Con, and have been increasingly tempted by the Harry Potter ornament exchanges on Facebook. , haven't gotten anything together for this year, but I was inspired (by my recent listening to the Harry Potter After 2020 podcast) to try a Mrs. Weasley excessively stamped letter. One thing I can do well, thanks to my behavior analysis work, is create and laminate pictures. 

 

My initial efforts were not too bad; enough to make me think maybe I can make something people would want to trade.  But, once I had my printable envelope template made, it occurred to me that I could possibly adapt it to some sort of Strike-related letter.

More Broomsticks and More Bea!

 I was happy to be a guest again on The Three Broomsticks with fellow Strike guests Beatrice Groves and Nick Jeffery, where we discuss our likes and dislikes re The Hallmarked Man.  Unfortunately, Bea had a bit of an issue with her audio, so her voice is a bit gravely., but it's worth listening to to hear what Bea has to say. Just imagine it as Pat's baritone. 

If you'd like to hear more of Bea's brilliant insights into The Hallmarked Man, check out her most recent blog post on the Strike and Ellacott files.  There's no better person than Bea to explain how Dostoevsky, P. G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen connect to this book.

And speaking of the Strike and Ellacott Files, Lindsay, Kenz and Pools are back this week as well, starting their bi-weekly read-through, which, given the length of the book, could well last until book nine is published. 

I am still working on my structural model revisions, so stay tuned. 

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A Serial Killer's Rebounding Spell: My talk from the 2025 Harry Potter Academic Conference.

 I've just finished up with one of my favorite weekends of the year, the annual Harry Potter Academic Conference at Chestnut Hill College. This year I hosted a panel called "The Mirror of Rettopyrrah: Wizarding World reflections in post-Potter books." 

My contribution was "A Serial Killer's Rebounding Spell: A Deathly Hallows echo in Troubled Blood." 
 It compares Strike's interview with Creed to Harry's final duel with Voldemort. 

Please check it out. 

The 3-5 links to The Hallmarked Man: One set predicted by Double Wedding Band, another not.

One of the reasons I was especially looking forward to the publication of The Hallmarked Man was that it was the first real test of the Double Wedding Band model. (See here, here and here for background information).  In short, I think we see three basic patterns in the Strike series that are best accounted for by viewing the 10-part series as two overlapping rings: the first staring with CC and ending with TRG; 

1. The basic "turtle-back" connections that are so obvious in Harry Potter should be seen in both rings, 
1. Book 2-Book 6
2. Book 3-Book 5
3. The beginning-turning point-end triangulation between Books 1-4-7. 
2. The "ring correspondence" connections, where Book 1 of the first ring (CC) connects to Book 1 of the second ring (LW) and so on. This gives us the following: (note that the starred connections are duplicated in the turtle-back triangulations, above).  
1. CC-LW*
2. Silkworm-TB
3. CoE-TIBH
4. LW-TRG*
5. TB-THM
6. TIBH-Book 9
7. TRG-Book 10. *
3. While not necessarily a part of the Double Wedding Band, there is also good evidence for the Leapfrog Effect: the tendency of odd-numbered books to pair with other odd-numbered, and evens with evens. This gives us 20 total pairings, four of which (2-6, 3-5, 1-7, and 4-10) are already listed above. 

It is the ring correspondence component of the model that got its first real test for predictive power with THM.  I originally came up with the Double Wedding Band to explain the large number of linkages between CoE and TIBH and between Silkworm and Troubled Blood. These two connections are not predicted by the turtleback or leapfrog effects, but are accounted for by the ring correspondence. 

Thus, I went into THM with two testable hypotheses:  

• First: If the ring correspondence model works, then The Hallmarked Man, as the 5th book of Ring 2 (and #8 in the series), should have lots of correspondences with Troubled Blood, the fifth book of Ring 1. 

Furthermore, the ring correspondence could potentially help answer the question that has been nagging us: what happens to the idea of Strike being a parallel series to Harry Potter once we hit book 8 and are out of Potter books? 

• The answer (and second hypothesis) is, we back up and look for connections to Book #5 of Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix. 

Did the Double Wedding Band model pass the test?  Find out below.

2-4-6-8, What Do We Appreciate? : The Hallmarked Man connections predicted by the Leapfrog effect.

A big feature of the Double Wedding Band model (see here, here and here for background information) is that it incorporates one of the more obvious patterns of the Strike series: the Leapfrog effect, or the tendency of odd numbered books to connect with odd numbers and and evens with evens. The Hallmarked Man continues this pattern  

What I am most excited about is those connections that have, thus so far, turned up in all four the even-numbered books. I'm going to call this the "Truly Appreciated" list, both because I was happy to see them and because I think they should top the list of predictions for book 10.