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

    Chapter 3 is a short one covering Strike's evening at home. Strike and Robin shippers will undoubtedly swoon at his thoughts of Robin, and his internal dialogue's first (correct me if I'm wrong) use of "love" to describe what he feels for her; previously lesser terms have been used such as "fancied" "find out what they could be to each other" or "wondering when he had last changed the sheets." 

    Happily, we can see Strike is sticking to his new, healthier lifestyle and that it is paying off. Sadly, we learn that it is Angel Vincent, Shanker's common-law step-daughter, rather than Charlotte that has a potentially fatal disease. Strike's offer to locate Angel's bio-dad is generous, even if he does have an ulterior motive, as is always the case when dealing with Shanker. If this was a soap opera, I would say Alyssa is going to try to conceive another child with Angel-daddy, in hopes of getting a sibling who would be a match for a blood marrow transplant, one of the potential cures for leukemia, but I really hope the story doesn't go there. 

    Happily, again, we see that Strike is serious about not pursuing other women as a distraction from Robin, as he immediately hangs up on Charlotte and throws out the phone number Bijou managed to slip in his pocket. 

    Chapter 4 is considerably longer, and covers Strike and and Robin's meeting with the widower Edensor and his two older sons. We learn that the eldest, James, does not think highly of Will, and that the middle, Edward, was in a near-fatal car accident four years ago and still walks with a stick. Will, whose autism appears to have left him exceptionally vulnerable to manipulation, was coerced into an act of arson at age 14, and left university to join the UHC at a time when his parents were preoccupied with the injured Edward. We also learn some follow-up about Kevin Pirbright: he was killed the previous August in what the police think was a drug deal gone bad, the UHC had counter-accused him of sexually abusing his sisters and that he believed in the spirit world and that the UHC had supernatural powers that could resurrect the dead. Mitch Patterson's firm had botched the job by letting the UHC identify their spies (What do you bet the fool was Morris or Nutley?). Robin accepts the case on behalf of them both, and they receive a packet containing some of Kevin's letters, a copy of the original blog (how long before Strike reads it and makes the connection to Aylmerton community?) and Patterson's report. 

Name Meanings

James: "supplanter" a derivative of Jacob. 

Edward: "wealthy guard"

These are very interesting names for Will's brothers, suggesting there could be some hostility or jealousy among the Edensor siblings. See "Ring Structure" for further elaboration.

Alexander:  "defender, warrior"

Graves: Apart from indicating a possible relationship with Percival of MACUSA, from English, this name means one who lives near a thicket or grove; from German, it means "steward." However, it is possible this could be referring to a literal burial site. Alexander Graves was a young man physically removed from the UHC by his parents in 1993 who committed suicide a few days later. Will he turn out to be one of the mysterious deaths investigated? Will an exhumation take place to collect new evidence? We also should not ignore the fact that this name matches a word in the book title. 

Timeline

Angel was eleven when we first met her in Career of Evil, when she found the courage to speak up about Brockbank's sexual abuse in his presence and in the midst of a house full of strangers, one of whom was brandishing a knife and the other of which had been physically brawling with her mother. This was 2011; making her 16 now. Her little sister Zahara would be eight. Alyssa and Shanker have now been together for five years, which has to be a record for Shanker. 

The meeting with Sir Colin occurs on the last Tuesday in February, making it Feb. 23, 2016. 

Kevin Pirbright was shot in August 2015, about 5 months after he disrupted Giles Harmon's reading and, more ominously, wrote in an email to Sir Colin, "I can feel the presence of the Drowned Prophet all around me. If anything happens to me, she'll have done it."

Alexander Graves died in 1993, two years before the "Drowned Prophet" drowned. We don't know Kevin's age yet, but best guess is early-to-mid 20's, giving him a birthdate in the early 1990's.  If he was in the church at this time, he was probably still very young. 

Harry Potter Echoes

Will is described as "emaciated" after he had joined the UHC, something Sir Colin attributed to frequent fasting in the church. If Robin finds herself regularly hungry while undercover, this would be another similarity between her infiltration of Chapman Farm and the Trio's camping trip. 

Will one of Will's letters be incomplete, as was the one Harry found in Grimmauld place? 

Literary Alchemy

Strike seems committed to cleaner living, as we see him prepare and eat a healthy meal and stay off the cigarettes. We see him doing good things in Chapter 3: agreeing to help find Angel's father, hanging up on Charlotte and tossing the phone number Bijou slipped in his pocket. We also learn in Chapter 4 that the agency has a reputation for honesty and integrity and do not take on cases for which they cannot help. These suggest a purity of heart that is typical of albedo. 

Ring Structure

The glimpse of a hostile sibling we find with James's outburst at the club should set off alarm bells, as the crimes in Books 1 and 4 were the result of a sibling's anger at perceived parental favoritism. Certainly James' name meaning, "supplanter" suggests someone who covets his brother's position or wealth, like the Biblical Jacob. Will we see another siblicide? Or, have we already seen an attempted siblicide, in the form of Edward's supposed "accident" in 2012? Uncovering a past attack by an older brother on the younger would be a direct link to both CC (John versus Charlie) and LW (Freddie versus Raff). 

We can also see a link to LW in Strike (and Robin, this time) being taken to an exclusive club by a government employee to discuss a potential case.