Double Dose of the Strike and Ellacott Files, Including Their Predictions Episode.

If you haven't been listening to the Strike and Ellacott Files (and you really should be), this week is  a great jumping-on point.  Not only do they have their regular podcast on Chapters 98-102 of the Ink Black Heart, but their "bookly" predictions episode.  There is something for everyone:  the first 80 minutes are predictions without the August 9th preview; then, following a spoiler warning, those who have read the preview can hear their thoughts on that.

See here for the Twitter link to the Ch. 98-102 episode. 

See here for the Twitter link to the Predictions episode.

See here for the podcast home page. 

I guarantee there wil be enough food for thought to satisfy even Strike after a date with the Madwoman. 

London Travelogue, Part Three: Highgate Cemetery

Given that I just started the Read-along of The Ink Black Heart in the lead-up to The Running Grave, I thought it was time to share my visit to Highgate Cemetery. It was just as impressive and magical in person as it was in the fictional cartoon. We didn't take a guided tour or have time (or frankly. energy, it was a very hot day) to visit the area pubs mentioned in the text, but the time we spent exploring was well worth it.  I saw most of the sights featured in the book, and a few other interesting ones. 

The famous "grave with the chair," onfeof the first pictures featured on Rowling's twitter header. 

"The grave Edie liked" with the sacrificial mother pelican. 

The Circle of Lebonon.

The "Paperwhite" sleeping angel. 

Starting The Ink Black Heart Read-Along (Ch. 1-12) and the Home Stretch to The Running Grave: What is a Bodhisattva? (Part 1 of 8)

 

Welcome to the opening chapters of The Ink Black Heart! It's hard to believe it's been barely a year since we opened this volume for the first time and entered the sinister world of Anomie and his online chats.  I'm going to highlight what I spotted on my re-read this time. If you want to know what my first impressions were, you can check out my old Hogwartsprofessor posts: here and here. 

Please note: I may do some speculation on The Running Grave in these posts, but I will not reveal any spoilers beyond those listed in the original cover blurb. If you want to discuss the previewed 53 pages that were released August 9th (then mysteriously withdrawn),  you can refer to my four-part series: 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

First: The Ritz! As I've said before, I am actually glad that the kissed was missed, given how intoxicated they were, and especially that 1) Robin was more impaired than Strike and that 2) he had continued to buy her drinks after she said she wanted to switch to water. (Yes, I know he'd never take advantage of her, but it's still a bit creepy...) 

I love this connection to CoE:

Before either of them could quite process what had just happened the mundane roar of a motorbike courier heralded the return of the world to its regular course 

Just as the motorbike courier delivery of the severed leg disrupted Strike and Robin's business for the majority of the book, their relationship will be disrupted for this one. 

New employees:  I was sorry to lose Andy, especially since he would have been a logical choice to accompany Robin to the cult in TRG, but Midge and Dev are fine additions and I hope they will stick around for TRG. 

A World of Riches: Finishing up the Troubled Blood read-along: Chapters 55-73, (Part 5 of 5)

 

As is typical of a Strike book, the pace picks up in the last quarter of the book, we are going to hit many wonderful moments as we finish up Troubled Blood. I am going to highlight what jumped out at me on the last re-read. 

Brother Al: His appearance was a nice turtle-back link to Book 2, his only other appearance in the series. but, like Polworth, he is a lot less appealing this time around. Case in point:

“and keep your fucking voice down, those are my employees you’re airing my private business in front of.”

“That’s your priority?”

Yes, it is, Mr. Never-Had-a-Job-in-Your-Life.

The news of the cancer is not come as too much a of surprise to me my first reading, given that Al had said there was more to the party than the anniversary and the new album. It is interesting that he is the second man in the book to have this, the first being Roy Phipps. Strike is right that, assuming it was caught early--- and it is caught early in the vast majority of cases--both Rokeby and Roy should be fine. While many are predicting Rokeby's death before the end of the series, perhaps even in the next book, I would be willing to bet it will not be of prostate cancer. 

Betty Fuller: I think this is the first time we have ever seen Robin overwhelmed or intimidated in a witness interview. It is clear she is thinking about the same thing Strike thought about on his birthday pub visit; what would her life be like when she's 80?  And, of course, we see the contrast between Betty's housing condition and Mucci Ricci's, whose expensive private nursing home turns up in the next chapter, makes it clear that the economic realities of "sex work is work" ---and particularly the gender disparities---are more complex and any middle-class social worker, or the Kyle and Courtney's of the world, can imagine. 

Wonderful laugh-out-loud moments. 

1. "What would it take to make you walk out on a blind date?” asked Morris.

"You turning up," thought Robin.

2.  "I want you to give me something to eat and a strong drink.”

“You’ve got it,” said Strike, glad to have a chance to make reparations. “Will a takeaway do?”

“No,” said Robin sarcastically, pointing at her rapidly blackening eyes, “I’d like to go to the Ritz, please.”

Food, Magical Food! Tune in to Potterversity.

Are you a Chocolate Frog or Butterbeer fan?  If so, tune in to these Potterversity Podcasts, where I was recently privileged to be a guest.  

Part One: Pondering Pumpkin Pasties. 

Part Two: Considering Cockroach Clusters.

From February to Easter, From albedo to rubedo. Troubled Blood Read-along, Ch 37-54 (Part 4 of 5).

We are getting to one of my favorite sections of this book, which I explored in-depth in a previous Hogwartsprofessor essay.  In particular, I love the albedo elements in this section. For those unfamiliar with literary alchemy (an important thematic construct in Harry Potter), albedo is the white, or purification stage. Common symbols indicating albedo include the color white, water, rain, light, silver metal, lilies, white roses, the moon, queens, doves (and other white birds) and swans (or other waterfowl). 

Both Robin and Strike were broken down to their low nigredo (black) point at Christmas, where Strike is reduced to vomiting in his bathroom and Robin to sobbing in her parents' backyard. Happily, things start looking up for both of them, and the albedo indicators start pouring in. Strike makes it to St. Mawes in time to be trapped there by torrential rains, and finds "all the gaudy summertime prettiness of St. Mawes wiped away" by the rain. He finds his aunt similarly changed into someone with whom he can communicate honestly:

Just as her storm-ravaged birthplace had revealed a different aspect in adversity, so an unfamiliar Joan was emerging, a Joan who asked open-ended questions that were not designed to elicit confirmation of her own biases, or thinly veiled requests for comforting lies.

The albedo elements continue after Strike returns to London.  

• Robin identifies Shifty’s “blonde friend,” Elinor (“light of God”) Dean.
• The initial refusal of the authorities to let Strike interview Creed leaves Robin feeling like they were, “pointlessly searching rockpools, while yards away the great white slid away, untouchable, into dark water.”
• Amanda White reconsiders her monetary demands for her story.
• Robin determines that the “white van” was not Creed’s
• Robin takes a bubble bath, then toasts Max’s new job with him with champagne on his creamy white sofas.
• Strike and Robin make a rainy-day visit to Hampton Court, to meet Cynthia (another name for Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, literally dressed as a Queen).
• Strike and Robin visit Broom House with rain beating on the surface of the koi ponds, with "vivid red, white and black shapes moving beneath the surface." 
• Roy Phipps is reduced to tears and confesses his long-ago cruelty to Margot ("pearl") which he thinks led to her death.

Picking up with Chapter 37, the albedo elements continue to abound. 

Fourth (and Final!) Look at The Running Grave Preview: Spoilers for August 9th release (Ch. 5 & 6).

As before, this is an analysis of the now-withdrawn Preview of The Running Grave, Spoilers are in BLUE TEXT. 

 

Bookending Car Rides and Robin's Developing Backbone: Troubled Blood Read-along, Ch 19-36 (Part 3 of 5).

Welcome back to the Troubled Blood Read-along.  I apologize for the unexpected interruption but I am back to to blogging and planning three catch-up posts, in hopes of starting the most recent volume in the series, The Ink Black Heart, on schedule next week. Believe it or not, at the end of IBH, we will be a mere three days from the release of The Running Grave. For those of you who have read the briefly released preview, I am writing a spoiler-filled series of posts on that, and what it might mean for the rest of the book, on this blog.  All TRG spoilers will be written in blue.

On to Chapters 19-36 of Troubled Blood. This section begins on Strike's birthday, with the partners' drive to interview Janice and Irene, and ends shortly after New Year's with the interviews at Hampton Court and Broom House. I was struck by the change in Robin's approach to Strike's sour mood. In Chapter 19, she takes his grumpiness in stride, and merely inquires if anything is wrong.

Robin watched Strike emerge onto the pavement, carrying a leather-bound notebook, and noted that he looked as grumpy as she’d ever seen him.

“Happy birthday,” she said, when he opened the passenger door. Strike immediately noticed the card and the small wrapped package lying on the dashboard.

Fuck.

“Cheers,” and climbed in beside her, looking even grumpier. As Robin pulled out onto the road, she said,

“Is it turning thirty-nine that’s upset you, or has something else happened?”

Having no desire to talk about Rokeby, Strike decided an effort was required.

“No, I’m just knackered. 

On the way to Hampton Court, she pushes back considerably more.

“Everything all right?” she asked, when he opened the passenger seat door.

“Fine,” he said shortly, climbing into the passenger seat and slamming the door. 

“Happy New Year.”

“Haven’t we already said that?”

“No, actually,” said Robin, somewhat aggravated by his surliness. “But please don’t feel pressured into saying it back. I’d hate you to feel railroaded—”

“Happy New Year, Robin,” muttered Strike.

I think this is a sign that she is getting less patient with by his moodiness and a preliminary hint of the blow-up that is to come on Valentine's Day. 

Both of these car trips lead to some of the best interviews of the series. The Irene and Janice one is a delight to re-read, both to enjoy laughing at Irene's excess ("I'm guessing lamb bhuna.") and to scrutinize Janice's testimony, noting when she is truthful and when she lies. The Phipps interview at times is like watching a Family sketch on Carol Burnett, with more quarreling than we've seen since the Chiswells, through which Strike manages to stuff his face with cake. But, it ends on a sober and much more sentimental note, with Roy's breakdown and the apparent start of reconciliation between him and his daughter. 

There's lots of good stuff between the bookends, too. Some favorite moments include:

• Strike seeing the 80-year-old's birthday and wondering who will be with him in his old age, followed by a solitary night with a takeaway in his flat, given that he lied to both Ilsa and Lucy, telling each he was going to the other's for dinner.
• Strike getting and deleting the nude photo of Charlotte, which will cause so much trouble for him in IBH. 
• The lovely interview with Oonaugh Kennedy in Fortnam and Mason.
• Strike's steadfast denial that he has flu, all evidence to the contrary. 
• Robin's postcard scheme to nail Postcard being a rousing success. 
• The image of Shanker at Hamley's, swapping Monster High dolls.
• Strike's aborted effort to buy Robin perfume. 

Both Strike and Robin wind up having miserable Christmases, Strike's with flu, poisoned chocolates and a snuff film, Robin with a nosy family, the looming specter of Matthew and Sarah in Masham, all topped off with a dick pic from Morris.  

Strike's post Christmas visit to Cornwall provides a nice contrast. Strike is able to enjoy chatting with her, for once, share information about his case and Joan is able to confide her funeral plans in him. This heartwarming scene shows the special relationahip and unique roles they play in each other's lives. 

I also enjoyed seeing Max gainfully employed and happy for once and Strike respond positively to Prudence, starting that relationship which will develop more over the next book. And, it's nice to see Robin tie up a few ends on the Bamborough case while Strike is in Cornwall. 

I'll be back soon with a summary of Chapters 37-54.  

Third Look at The Running Grave Preview: Spoilers for the Aug 9 Release (Ch. 3 & 4).

As before, this is an analysis of the preview released on August 9, 2023. Spoilers begin with the BLUE TEXT

Second look at The Running Grave Preview: Spoilers for the August 9, 2023 release (Ch. 1 and 2).

 As before, there will be spoilers for the 53-page release (now withdrawn) from August 9th.  Spoilers in BLUE. 

First Look at The Running Grave Preview (Spoilers for the chapters released on August 9th, 2023).

 Hello, I'm back!  I apologize for the lengthy absence and the delays in the Strike Read-A-Long posts. I am fine, but I have been dealing with health, family and employment issues since my return from India on August 2. I very much appreciate all who expressed their concern.  In a short time, I feel like we have already created a community here, and I hope that will only grow with the release of The Running Grave. 

My hope is to get some catch-up posts on the Troubled Blood read-along up this week and be ready to start The Ink Black Heart on August 28th, as planned. But, for me, a higher priority is going through the 53-page preview that became available on August 9th, and then mysteriously vanished a day or two later.  I am fortunate enough to have it saved in a PDF.  I realize not everyone got hold of it during the brief interval it was available. so I will be careful to label any spoilers. For the months of August, September and October, any posts that reference events in The Running Grave will be typed in BLUE TEXT 

Onward, and beware, spoilers below. 

It Was the Chocolate Brownie and Not Strike That Made Her Happier

Hey, Everyone! Today we are deep diving into chapters 8-18 of Troubled Blood. We are in part 2 and today’s epigraph is, “Then came Autumne all in yellow clad”(68). A quick note about the epigraph before we get into it. Troubled Blood takes us through an entire year, we start and end the book in the Summer months. Autumn is often thought of as the harvest season, everything either starts the process of hibernating or leaves are dying off. With that we have the pairing of being yellow clad. Yellow, unless attached to bellies, is generally seen as a positive color and as both of our heroes were born in Autumn (a connection to the opening epigraph of Cuckoo’ Calling perhaps?) It seems as though this section will have both death and light everything we expect from the Strike novels. So let’s get into it, shall we? Chapter 8 Strike and Robin start this chapter on a sad and yet satisfying note, The Mrs. Tuftys are told of their husband’s bigamy and band together to have justice served, but also inform the press that the currently called Strike Detective Agency solved the case. I must say it does bother me that Robin solved the case but is not mentioned in the papers even if Robin herself does not want to be mentioned. Almost a full month goes by before DI George Layborn contacts Strike with news of the Bamborough file. He reveals that DI Talbot was on the case for six months before his wife called the hospital as he had a “Proper mental breakdown”. He also tells Strike that Ken Lawson took over but unfortunately shortly after she disappeared Lord Luncan disappeared. Here, Rowling again, shows us the meticulous research she has done as this was a real crime that happened. Richard Bingham the 7th Earl of Luncan disappeared on Nov. 8th, 1974 after his nanny was butchered. Layborn discusses with Strike the various reasons why Creed was a suspect (there was a white van) and the little ways that Talbot did not follow through on investigative work (he was too busy asking the former boyfriend where he was when one of Creed’s victims was taken). 

Strike goes home and after eating some dinner starts to read The Demon of Paradise Park, a biography on Creed. To try to sum it up quickly Creed started torturing women in 61 and continued through until 1976. He was born in a horrifically abusive and bordering incestual house. ( can it be considered incest if it is a step-father? Either way, it is still horrific)His teenage mother was able to escape but couldn’t take Dennis with her. The last thing of note is that his mother wished she had let her father kill him when he was minutes old. Strike’s reading is interrupted by a phone call from a drunk Charlotte who wants to talk to him as it is her twin’s first birthday and she is miserable. After a few minutes Strike hangs up. Chapter 9 It is the ninth chapter and the ninth of October and I desperately wish I could give Robin the birthday she deserves but she wakes up miserable. After all, it is the last year of her 20’s and as Katie, her cousin (who I am liking less and less) points out Robin is moving in a different direction. Robin begins the day contemplating the fact that she is lonely and as soon as she wonders if she will have a succession of lovers like Strike, she wonders if he called Charlotte. 

We get a description of her rented room, and her roommates Max and Wolfgang the elderly dachshund. It is interesting to note that while I adore the actor they got to play Max, I have a note that his physical description sounds like Brad Pitt to me. The only problem with Max is he seems to be suffering from some sort of depression which makes Robin’s living space not as good as it can be. She opens the gifts her family sent and dresses all in black, a move I have often done myself. She reads some of her own copy of Demon of Paradise Park as she rides the tube. Then She gets a text from Strike, asking if she can join him in interviewing Dr. Dinesh Gupta, a colleague of Margots. Unfortunately, she has to meet with the Weatherman about Postcard. Strike sends back “Right you are” and it is with those words and no wish of a happy birthday that Robin’s mood continues to sour as this is the second year in a row that Strike has forgotten. The man with amazing recall is so in denial about his feelings that he has forgotten her birthday twice. It makes me want to scream and possibly smack him upside the head, but I will leave that to the very capable hands of Ilsa.