Venetia's Debut. Thai Massages, Bad Tigger, Unread Cards and Ominous Phone Calls: Career of Evil Read-along, Part 3 of 6.

I love the way Robin, even with her embarrassment over attracting the police's attention by photographing the ship-building facility, stands up to Strike and insists that it is safer for her to interview Holly Brockbank than for Strike to attempt it. As many times as Strike has been recognized on his trips north by people who knew Laing or Brockbank, he has to admit that the odds of Holly catching on are pretty good. Do you think that Robin's frustration with Matthew, and his refusal to accept that the relationship will be over except under his terms gives Robin the boldness she needs to stand up to Strike?

After Venetia's successful interview, Chapter 26 opens with Strike and Robin eating their first fish and chips together, in Barrow-in-Furness, echoing their meals in Skegness (TB) and in Robin's new flat (IBH). Upon re-reading, there is special poignancy in hearing the locals singing the school song at their friend's funeral and having Strike connect it to Ted's eventual death, which he hopes will be 20-30 years in the future. We knowing, of course, that Joan's life will be unexpectedly cut short two books (and three years) later. 

It is clear that their feelings about each other are shifting a bit now that Robin has broken up with Matthew.  We have Robin fantasizing about Strike knocking on her hotel room, in contrast to her ignoring of Hugh Jacks in Zermatt (IBH).

Then there are some suggestive juxtapositions for Strike at the massage parlor with erotic thoughts being quite easily connected to Robin:

“Any of your ladies free for me this morning?” he asked. 

“What kind you like?” said the voice. He could see Robin coming back in the wing mirror, her strawberry-blonde hair blowing freely in the breeze, a gold pack of Benson & Hedges glinting in her hand.

And:

The idea of a full body-to-body naked massage with oil was far from unpleasing. For no reason that he could think of, his thoughts jumped to Robin, sitting outside in the car.

I also smiled at Robin getting testy as she waited for Strike to get Laing's number from the flirtatious Ingrid.  

Robin scores more points with the discovery that the body is Kelsey Platt's, since it was she who recognized the letter might be connected to the delivered leg. She also comes up with some psychological reasons to keep Brockbank in the suspect pool, which his bound to make Strike feel a little better about the 200+ pounds he just shelled out for his phone number. 

With the visit to Lorraine MacNaughton, we see a pattern that is recurrent in the series: an annoying, yapping dog indicates an important clue nearby. Here, the important points are that 1) the pictures show that Donald Laing's appearance has changed to the point he is no longer recognizable and 2) the woman next door, who Strike instantly and correctly guesses that Laing has beaten and robbed, had the last name of Williams.  We'll see more yapping dogs in Book 4: Rattenbury, who is barking in the Chiswell sitting room where we first see Mare Mourning, and again when it disappears; Rattenbury's own name is also a clue to the fact that Chiswell was murdered by his wife and her young lover; no wonder Kinvara is desperate to shut him up. There is also a yapping dog next door during the final interview with Grant Ledwell in Book 6, when he is persuaded to give up the note he took from Edie's coffin. 

The Chapter 29 interlude from the killer's perspective has a couple of interesting points. First, we learn the killer's second victim had been a young woman who was distracted and off-balance following a fight with her boyfriend, just has the killer was hoping would happen with Robin. Second, we see references to "It" requiring special handling, not being happy and having a "stupid scheme" in mind.  Upon re-reading, the reason for her unhappiness is obvious; she's just learned her younger sister/ward has been brutally murdered, and the scheme is that she wants to talk to Strike. The Vick's Vapo-rub will be used to make "Ray's" eyes swell to unrecognizable slits, just as Laing's were in the picture Lorraine showed them.

It is very interesting how Strike and Robin swap roles once they return to London. At the motel, Robin was the one thinking about Strike, while Strike seemed more interested in showering and going to bed. On Saturday, Strike is the one fantasizing about calling Robin up for a drink, while she seems to buckle down and work, which, of course, pays off when she locates Laing online.  We see Robin grieve over her gifts from Matthew: the stuffed elephant and the jewelry box; those will be mentioned has having being given to charity in Book 5. We also see an indicator of Matthew's self-centeredness in their photos featuring their joint trips and his sister's wedding. The largest one is of him celebrating his graduation: "an achievement of which [Robin] had been robbed by a man in a gorilla mask;" she is expected to sit by and be content to support him in his success. This will be explicitly echoed in LW: 

"Because I’m supposed to see all your victories as mine, aren’t I, Matt? Whereas my achievements—"

“Sorry, remind me what they are again?" Matthew said.

It will be nice to see Robin finally replace these photos with pictures of her own family, friends and pets in TIBH. As for Strike, we can bet he'll feel a bit guilty about begging off Jack's birthday party in a year or so; we also see him falling into the pattern of lying to his girlfriend about his availability. 

Chapter 31 brings the readers, fifty roses and Wardle back to the office with Robin and Strike. A lot of people have suspected that the card-that-was-never-read held some secret and that the roses weren't really from the Flobberworm, Surely if they had been from the killer to Robin (knowing Laing's finances, probably not, when he has a freezer full of free body parts) or from Elin to Strike (also out of character for someone trying to be discreet about the relationship; her ex probably checks credit card bills) that would have been revealed before the end of the book. Others have suspected Charlotte, but they've had a lot of contact in books 4, 5 and 6 and they have never come up again. Would it be playing fair if Mr. Galbraith brought them up again in Book 7 or after?

Chapter 32, when Robin makes phone contact first with little Zahara, then her mom, and finally Brockbank himself, sows the seed of the discord that will come close to permanently rupturing Strike and Robin's partnership. From this point on, Robin is almost as concerned about keeping Brockbank away from potential child victims as she is about solving the leg mystery; Strike can't afford to be concerned about that. This is odd, given that he has very strong reactions to child molesters in later books: the explosion at the students at Max's dinner party in TB and his threats to Tim Ashcroft in TIBH. I think this is an indicator of how personally he is taking this case, and the possibility that someone from his past is threatening both his business and Robin (not necessarily in that order) in such a grotesque way. 

I'll be taking a break from blogging for the next couple of weeks, as I am heading off to my own Strike tour in the UK. Fortunately, the read-along will continue under the capable hands of Stacy (June 22nd, 29th and July) and Kurt (July 29). Please tune in and comment to keep the discussion going. In the meantime, depending on how much blogging time I have, I'll be dropping in with some travel posts.