The Cuckoo's Calling: Guy, Doom Bar, Ciara, Rochelle and the Will. Part Three of Four.

The pacing of the mystery plot of The Cuckoo's Calling picks up quite a bit in Part Four, leaving a scant two chapters for Part Five. Here's a partial list of what the author packs into this section: 

• The Guy Somè interview
• Spanner's diagnosis of the computer
• The second visit to Kentigern Gardens, 
• The visit with Marlena Higson
• Charlotte's call to Robin and her delivery of the engagement news
• Strike's resultant bender and Robin's caretaking
• Strike's self-cleansing and recovery from the hangover
• The interviews with Bryony, Ciara, and Duffield
• The one-night stand with Ciara
• See this link for a scientific take on the great "that's not my leg" line. 
• The reconnection with Robin
• The call to view Rochelle's body 
• The visit to Freddie Bestigui
• Rochelle's funeral
• The visit to Lady Yvette.  

 I'm going to focus on one element that appears in the beginning, middle and end of this sections: the "fabby" Guy Somè purses. Strike sees the oversized advertisement for the handbags at Guy's studio and he tells her he sent them to her on the day she died. Ciara later tells him about asking to be bequeathed the white one, and about the zip-in linings. Strike finds the bags in Lady Bristow's wardrobe, and his knowledge of the lining helps him find the missing will. 

The theme of "important note, handwritten on distinctive personal stationery, hidden away by a woman in a place few men would think to look" is repeated in Lethal White, with Chiswell's note that Robin finds in Flick's bathroom.  

This is a lead-up to my first official prediction for The Running Grave:  there will be another discovery of a similarly hidden note. I even have three possible candidates:

1. The note Leda left for Ted and Joan when she abandoned her children with them the first time.  Strike "never knew" what Leda said in the note, but Strike would have been four. It is possible that Leda was in the process of establishing a paternity claim against Jonny Rokeby, using the then-cutting-edge science of HLA antigen testing. Strike was acknowledged as Rokeby's son by age 5, and, contrary to what we were told in early books, DNA tests were not available then.  However, it is possible that Joan saved the note and tucked it away someplace. and Strike will find it when going through her things. Perhaps she hid it someplace like she did the chocolate biscuits.
2. The note Rokeby sent to Strike when he was hospitalized after the IED explosion. Strike asks Charlotte to throw it away, but what if she didn't? This could well be the "something that he wants" from her mysterious phone message at the beginning of Troubled Blood. After being part of the original message, that element was never brought up again. 
3. This is, in my opinion, least likely possibility: the never-read note that came with the 50 roses that Robin assumed were from Matthew in Career of Evil. I could see, in theory, that Robin could have stuck it in a desk drawer and forgotten about it. But Pat's been using the desk for over a year now; she'd certainly have found it and said something if there was something unusual in the note. 

The second thing that struck me when re-reading this section is how much we learn of our heroes' personal lives .Of course, Strike spills the beans about the kairos moment during his drunken Charlotte rant, but we also see the first row between Matthew and Robin over her job, as well as Strike's remarkable insights on how much Matthew dislikes Robin working for him. 

Other thoughts and comments welcome!