Which Came First, the Title or the Song? Could the Cocteau Twins hit have inspired Sleep Tight Evangeline?

An anonymous reader on an earlier post (who is welcome to message me if they want me to credit them!) pointed out another "Evangeline" song, this one by the Scottish group the Cocteau Twins, that was a big hit in Portugal in 1993, when JKR lived there.  At the risk of being unpatriotic, the song is much more to my taste than The Whiskey Shambles' "Sleep Tight, Evangeline"

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read, Chapters 96-98: Terrible Dino, lying Robin and a possible justification for taking on Mrs. Two-times as a client.

Chapter 96 picks up the next day (Tuesday, Feb 28th) with the news of the murders.

News of the murders of Jim Todd and his mother hit the London Evening Standard the following day. To Strike’s relief, his presence at the scene wasn’t mentioned.

 RFM and Robin finally meet again on this same day; she (ugh!) agrees not to leave him but the house-hunting is on hold pending the "rebuilding of trust." Interestingly, RFM may well be lying even in the midst of this reconciliation talk.

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-Read, Chapters 93-95: Sleepless in London and a full English breakfast.

I love the Strike-messing-with-the-Met chapters (see also Books 2, 4 and 6) and the Chapter 93 interrogation is no exception. 

Strike’s professional life had more often seen him as interrogator rather than interrogated, but in recent years he’d found himself on the uncomfortable end of a police interview far more often than he’d have liked. 

"Oo's grassed?" said Shanker furiously: Are seeds for a Sleep Tight, Evangeline plotline being planted at Barnaby's ?

One of the relatively successful guesses I made prior to The Hallmarked Man was that the Arsehole Cricketer case would really enrage Dominic Culpepper, which would result in retaliatory journalism that would necessitate Strike making contact with his father. True, I thought the scandalous story would involve Leda, not Bijou, (perhaps trying to implicate Rokeby, Strike or both in her death) and that Rokeby and Strike would have to team up because they both had a reason to block publication, but I was still close.  During this most recent re-read, I am seeing what could be hints for a future plotline, one that I think could bring disaster, or even tragedy, to everyone's favorite career-criminal-with-a-heart-of-gold, Shanker. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read: Chapters 89-92: Vodka-soaked gym clothes, crushed cars and two dead bodies.

Chapter 89 takes us back to Robin and Murphy, who make up over the weekend. 

Robin felt as though she’d been away from London for a fortnight, instead of the forty-eight hours that had actually passed. 

She meets RFM at an Italian* place for dinner Saturday night, and spends the night at his flat. On Sunday evening, as Robin is preparing for her Facetime with Wynn Jones, he decides to "do an hour at the gym" and leaves with his bag and infamous water bottle.  He has barely exited when Strike calls. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-Read, Chapter 88: Where Strike doesn't stumble.

As I mentioned in yeserday's post, Chapter 87 is my favorite in the book.  But, Chapter 88 comes close to being the perfect follow-up, largely because of how and why we get rid of the Kimphomaniac. 

The injury to Strike’s face looked even worse the following morning, the swelling slightly diminished but livid blue bruises dappling his skin. His face continued to ache and he chose not to shave, for fear of reopening the gash left by the spade.

Before heading back to the ferry, he and Robin walked a little way along La Coupée, which lay just beyond the Old Forge: a high, narrow isthmus connecting the main island from Little Sark. 

Like Robin's black eyes in Troubled Blood, Strike's injury looks worse the next day. And, as sorry as I was not to see them cross La Coupée on horseback, I was happy, as in Skegness, to at least let them see a windy view of the sea together. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read, Chapter 87- In which Murphy and Strike both do the right thing.

The plan for today's installment was Chapters 87 and 88.  But, there is so much to love about Spaghetti in Sark that I'm going to devote the entire post to that. I'll try to cover Chapter 88 on Sunday

The evening in the Old Forge B & B (authentic pictures, by the way!) is my favorite chapter in the book, perhaps the first time since Christmas Eve (Chapter 41, the end of Part 3!) that Strike and Robin seem genuinely well-suited to be more than platonic friends. Ironically, the fact that he chooses not to try to take them to the next level here is exactly what makes it so clear that he is the right life, as well as professional partner for her, Just as so many Strike fans were tempted to go out and buy a bottle of Narcisco after the Ritz, this chapter inspired me to try to prepare spaghetti carbonara for the first time.  I don't think it's as popular a dish here as it is in Europe; our restaurants tend to be very cautious about the potential for undercooked eggs.