New Sleep Tight Evangeline Twitter Header, Robert Raikes Statue: Seven good reasons to be excited.

My friend and occasional fellow blogger Kurt quickly identified JKR/RG's new twitter header today as a statue of Robert Raikes at London's Victoria Embankment Gardens.  Robert joins the cities of York and  Portsmouth, some creepy dolls, a treehouse and a charm bracelet chock full of clues as header-hints given to date to the next book in the Strike series, which the author claims is 60% complete at Chapter 74.  Let's take a look at this latest clue and some reasons to be excited.  

Travel as a Strike fan: The things you notice.

 I am just back from a fantastic trip to Germany and Denmark, with day trips into the Czech Republic and Sweden. When you take a trip like that after months of immersion in the latest Strike book, it can't help but color your perspective. At the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin, for instance, two paintings jumped out at me. 

The first is this Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, by Pompeo Girolama Batoni. A few interesting facts to note: 

• Psyche's face is modeled after Batoni's wife, said to be one of the most beautiful women in Rome.
• That is Venus assisting her son in placing the ring on Psyche's finger, while Hymen, the god of marriage supports Psyche. 
• Zephyr, the west wind who orginally carried Psyche to Cupid, is blowing a blast of air on the happy couple. 
• All the gods are positioned on clouds, while the mortal Psyche stands on the floor. 

What struck me was the fact that this is one of the few depictions of the marriage I have seen that shows Cupid as a child, the way he is often depicted when alone. Not only do they appear to have the opposite age issue that Strike and Robin have, Psyche appears to be drifting dangerously close to Tim Ashcroft territory. Compare Batoni's painting to the one Galbraith tweeted. 

Quick-Quote Quills and odd Cupid/Psyche allusions: Myth-retelling or signpost reminders?

Greetings from sunny-if-chilly Auburn, Alabama, where I have had the privilege of spending the weekend with my extended family celebrating my nephew's university graduation. I had a little time to start putting some Cupid and Psyche thoughts together, so I will at least try to get this long-planned post started, though finishing it may have to wait until I am home in Virginia. 

Minor note:  I have learned that a Quick-Quotes Quill -wielding website has misrepresented my overall take on The Hallmarked Man, claiming I characterized it as "a real stinker" and "the worst book ever."  After over three decades as a PhD student, post-doc and tenured university professor, I have learned to be more amused that irritated when this sort of thing happens. Even the best readers get careless sometimes, so focused on inventing a straw-man antithesis to their own position that they gloss over helpfully highlighted summaries, such as that which appeared in the final post of my Real-Time Re-read. 

I will admit, however, to being a bit perplexed as to why someone would believe me so foolish as to spend eight months writing over 70 lengthy blog posts about a novel which I found so utterly without merit. 

Ah, well. Uva uvam vivendo varia fit. On to Cupid and Psyche!

Taking an interbook break: and a special announcement.

I had tremendous fun with the real-time re-read of The Hallmarked Man, and picked up a lot of great comments, new subscribers and new insights in the process. Though it didn't move THM out of last place for me, I did gain a new appreciation of the mental health challenges that both our protagonists have been facing. 

I've been pondering my next blogging steps and concluded that I need to take a break from regular blogging for a time. I am working on a post on all the Cupid and Psyche pointers that were seen in THM, and puzzling over why so many of them point at Strike rather than Robin, but I clearly need some time to compose something coherent out of those natterings. I had thought of doing a read-through through C.S. Lewis's Til We Have Faces, but I see from the headlines that Nick and John are already discussing that at hogwartsprofessor and those two know collectively more about the Inklings than I ever will.* And, while I am eager to do another read-through of Career of Evil, one of the books that I did not re-read in preparation for THM, but which turned out to have multiple connections, I am not quite up to plunging into my second-least-favorite book of the series after so many weeks poring over THM. 

That, plus the multiple work, travel, non-blogging writing projects and family obligations currently on my plate, means I am going to step away from regular blogging for the next few months, and possibly through the summer. I'll continue to keep an eye on social media for any new Evangeline hints, and comment if something amazing like the charm bracelet arises. But, my life will change in a major way in early August, when I become a grandmother for the first time, so it seems wise to deprioritize blogging and focus on other aspects of my life, for now. 

I'll be back when I have time to say more.  Thank you, dear readers, for taking the Hallmarked Express with me for the last six months. 

*Note, I have neither read the posts nor watched their videos. so I can't say anything about what the discussion is like. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-read Wrap-up: Was it better this time through? Yes, but it's still the worst in the series, and here's why.

A recent Reddit poll ranked The Hallmarked Man last of the eight Strike books, and, if I recall correctly, it wasn't a particularly close vote. A lot of THM fans insist, it's better when you re-read, and I think that is absolutely true. Then again, that's true of all of the Strike series, and RG/JKR's other works as well. Part of the huge success of the Harry Potter series can be attributed to the details uncovered as kids and adults read them again and again. One reason I think the Strike books will never hit that level of popularity is that they are marketed squarely in the mystery category. Many adults do not read whodunnits more than once, since the thrill for them is gone once you know whodunnit. 

I've read or listened to the earlier Strike books dozens of times. I've lost track of how many times I've re-read THM, but, given that I read each section at least 2-3 times when doing a detailed blog-through like the one I have just completed, it must be six or seven by now. Did THM improve on re-reading?  Yes, absolutely. Did it, for me, lift itself out of last place? No, it didn't.  For this summary I have re-read not the book but all of my detailed blog posts, from the Advent Adventure to the Real-time Re-read, for the purposes of summarizing what changed for me and what didn't. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read Finale, Chapters 126-127: A margarine tub and--- some broccoli?

The Hallmarked Man closed on April 7th, 2017. I am closing my in-depth re-read exactly nine years later. It's been a great ride and I am thankful to all who have followed since the start of The Hallmarked Man Advent Adventure back in early December. 

My plan is to review the last two chapters here. Then, later in the week, I'll post a round-up on how my impressions changed with the re-read, and where I think The Hallmarked Man stacks up in relationship to the rest of the series 

“In a way," said Decima Mullins, "I feel as though he did die.”

Thus begins Chapter 126, possibly the saddest closing wrap-up in the series. We already know the sad endings to two of the Wright candidates, with Semple's suicide and Powell's brutal murder. We see Decima here, wishing she'd never have found out the truth about her son't parentage and still clearly having strong feelings and desire for the man that she can never have. The best they can hope for is a platonic relationship as they strive to raise their child together and debate for the next dozen years or so whether it would be better or worse for him to know the truth about his parentage. The only comfort Strike can give her is the knowledge that her persistence in pursuing the case revealed the truth about both Semple and Powell, and, perhaps more importantly, rescued Sapphire Neagle from a terrible fate. Strike and Robin, naturally, promise never to reveal the secret about the incest and fortunately, mouthy subcontractors like KFC never found out. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-read, Chapters 124-125: From burial to bougainvillea.

"Engraved with the regimen's winged dagger badge"

I must say, I really love Chapter 124, the first in the Epilogue. Eleven days have passed since the way-overblown confrontation with the sliced-off ear and the bottle of whiskey. Not only do we see Strike actually behaving sensibly here, but we get perhaps the best glimpse so far in the series as to what he must have been like as a soldier. 

Eleven days after Ian Griffiths and friends had been taken into custody, and Strike and Sapphire Neagle had been driven by ambulance to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Strike donned his only black suit in his attic flat, and drove, again, to Hereford.

We learn that Strike had correctly deduced that Niall Semple had committed suicide by jumping off the Regents' Park Bridge, with a weighted-down briefcase shackled to his wrist. His widow, Jade, has invited Strike to attend the funeral, and Strike feels he should do this, rather than accompany Robin on her trip to "tidy away the last fragment of the silver vault case."