Sixth and Finally-We-Really-Mean-It Final Look at The Running Grave Preview: Spoilers for September 7th release: Chapters 9-11.

 We are back with what I can only assume is the final preview of The Running Grave before its September 26th publication date. Spoilers in BLUE. 

Chapter 9: And we are on our way. at last, to Prudence's. A few notes first. Robin has cut her hair chin length, and dyes the ends light blue. This is a very smart adaptation for a long term undercover mission; I was worried about her roots growing out if she changed her whole hair color drastically. Second, given the earlier mention of April Wardle and her experience with UHC. and the fact that April had light blue hair when we met her in CoE, I am wondering if there could be a connection. Third, part of me wishes Robin would go knock on Matthew's door and freak him out a bit. 

I also wanted to elaborate a bit on the play Robin and Ryan see, The Father, given that it is not unheard of for Robert Galbraith to connect cultural events to the main narrative. See TIBH's Tannhäuser for an example. Historically, this play was performed in the Duke of York theatre in March 2016.   The Father is a complex drama about a man with dementia, which we should note given Lucy's concerns about Ted in Chapter 11. The play's protagonist also has two daughters: the favorite, who was killed in an accident, and the less favored, with whom he has serious conflict and trust issues. I am wondering if this could be a pointer to Jonathan Wace and his daughters Abigail and Daiyu.

I also caught my first gaffe here, whn Robin asks "How's the little girl?" in regards to Shanker's step-daughter, for whose bio-dad they are searching. As I pointed out before, Angel is 16, the same age that Rachel Ledwell was in IBH, and Robin would never have called her "little girl."  Unless the author made an name error and the cancer patient is 8-year-old Zahara? In any case, given all that Robin was willing to risk to save Angel and Zahara from sexual abuse in 2011, wouldn't you think Robin would use their names?  

Moving onto the person we've been wanting to meet for two whole books: Strike's fellow illegitimate Rokeby-Spawn, Prudence Dunleavy. My first special wish to meet this woman dates back at least to 2019. Prudence is the next in a long list of characters who has more money than they know what to do with, but unlike most of the others, Prudence appears to be both an intelligent and kind-hearted person, with a (gasp!) functional family. 

I am officially coining a new blended term: "Shipper + sibling" and declaring myself a Strike-Prudence "shiblinger."  Get your heads out of the gutter, there's no incest here: just a relationship I love and want to see thrive and grow stronger, that happens to be a sibling bond rather than a romantic one.  Having met face-to-face for the first time only a eight months ago, Cormoran and Prudence seem to understand, and even resemble,  each other more that Cormoran and Lucy do. The compatibility apparently extends to Prudence's  husband and kids, all of whom appear to like Strike. The kids even call him "New-Uncle."

Prudence is absolutely the perfect person to have around right now. Not only is she happy to donate her outrageously expensive clothes to Robin's undercover mission, but she is knowledgable not only about cults in general but specifically about the UHC,  having treated a client who is a former member. She also has books on the topic that she is willing to lend to the partners. Honestly, it is so great to see Robin finding a new friend with whom she can potentially discuss psychology. 

Finally, I love that she is not playing the "please come meet dad" ambassador role that Al did, but instead focusing on her own relationship with Strike, even considering him a "talisman" to her, another outsider but one who makes his way without Rokeby's help. She even acknowledges that Rokeby is immature, can't look after himself or others and can be socially clueless; she calls him a "bloody idiot," for example, for his idea that he could simply give Strike money and it would fix the relationship. Prudence does, however, tell Robin that Rokeby genuinely feels guilty about "behaving badly" (the same words that Joan used when she urged Strike to go to his party) and there is no reason to believe she is being untruthful. Finally, please note it has been almost two years since the party and no one seems concerned about Rokeby being seriously ill. As Strike guessed, doctors caught it early and it seems he's fine.

Robin and Strike wind up their time at Pru's by looking closely at the police photo of Kevin's death scene, and trying to decipher some of the writing on the wall. They see some words like: Five prophets, retribution, Becca, sin, stra.., plot, The night before... and, most intriguing, a part of a circled and underlined word PIGS, that someone, possibly Kevin's killer, tried to scrape off the wall, destroying plaster in the process. Pigs could be referring to the farm animals, the pig-headed demons that Kevin claimed to see on the Chapman Farm grounds or the derogatory term for the police.  

•  The word "PIG," written in blood on a door, was a key oddity in the murder scene of the Manson family cult of actress Sharon Tate. Recall that Jeff Whittaker was a Manson devotee. It was also left on a headboard in the infamous Fatal Vision killing, where Green Beret Jeffrey Macdonald was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and two daughters. Macdonald was believed to have written it in order to implicate a "cult of hippies" in the murders. 
• Very interesting that there are two true-crime cases with the word PIG left at the scene. One was an actual hippie-cult killing; one was a feigned hippie-cult killing where the culprit was actually the father. 
• Could The Father play at the start of this chapter be a clue pointing to a father at the crime scene at chapter's end?
• The two father possibilities so fathe are the obvious: Jonathan "Papa J" Wace, and the less-obvious: Sir Colin. 

Chapter 10. Oddly, though Prudence specifically said that the cultic psychology books are for Robin, Strike is the one who reads them before helping Robin make sure her undercover persona is securely in place. Oddly, nothing is said about Robin, who is the person going into the cult, and who actually has some background in psychology, being given the books to read for herself. I hope that's just an oversight and not a serious error. 

In any case, on Saturday, Robin gets dressed up in her new designer duds (no mention of the Green Dress yet!) and visits the temple. She turns out to be attending on a special day, the church's new year holiday, and the Day of the Wounded Prophet, where "Papa J" himself makes a rare appearance. Robin hears the story of Rust Andersen, who allegedly lived alone on the property, rejecting all religion, but who, on the day before his tragic death by drunk driver, "admitted the possibility" that the divine could exist, and, presciently, hours before he was killed,  wrote a letter to Jonathan saying that he had prayed for the first time since childhood and felt a peace that was like "a glimpse of heaven." 

While the story reduces others in the pews to tears, what jumps out to us is that Rust was a member of the Aylmerton community prior t0 the founding of the UHC, a community that "was, sadly, not everything she hoped it would be." In other words, the "Wounded Prophet" was a member of Strike's nightmare commune!  The question is, would Strike recognize his picture?  

• This is the second of the two prophets (the first being healer Harold Coates) who were supposedly living on the property in the Aylmerton Community days. Despite the lawyer' claim that Mazu is the only member who was ever a part of Aylmerton, the UHC has actually venerated at least two Aylmerton Commune residents. 
• Accourding to Kevin Pirbright, the other prophets were added to the Pantheon (or should that be Pentheon?)  after the Drwoned Prophet as if "Daiyu needed company." If Daiyu's mother Mazu was sexually abused in the Aylmerton Community, they seem like particularly odd choices to be venerated. 

During the rest of the snazzily produced presentation, Robin, repeats, at Jonathan's behest "I accept the possibility" then follows the instructions to think of a word or number. Jonathan says that, if that term "forces itself upon your notice" before midnight, she should consider the possibility that this "coincidence" is instead a message from the Blessed Divinity. Robin picks the number 48. 

An unnamed blonde woman appears to be paying special attention to Robin and making sure she feels welcome, attracted almost certainly by her expensive clothes and the fact that she is attending alone. 

Chapter 11. Robin calls from a cafe to report on her temple visit to Strike, who is on his way to Lucy's, bearing gifts for the nephews, for a visit we are told he is dreading. Robin says nothing about the Wounded Prophet or his connection to the Aylmerton Community, which leads me to believe Strike has not told her about his own experience there. I think this will prove to be a serious omission.  An American in a NASCAR shirt with the number 48 attracts Robin's attention. Cue Twilight Zone theme music. 

Strike, as it turns out, is not dreading a normal nephew birthday party, nor is he especially cheered by the news that Luke and Greg are out, something, I assume, would normally be considered a good thing. After Jack and Adam go out to play with their new toy weapons, Lucy chats a bit, and lets him know she is worried about Ted, who repeated the same story to her verbatim on two different phone calls. Turns out, Strike's gifts are to distract the nephews, while he talks privately to Lucy. Although he still hasn't mentioned the Norfolk commune to Robin, he feels he should explain to Lucy about the UHC case, and warn his sister that that Aylmerton Community phase of their childhood could be brought up publicly if there is media coverage. 

Lucy recoils in her chair "as though the words had hit her physically" and begins "noiselessly crying." This triggers a gasp of shock in Louise (that's me, not Kevin's mom) with the realization that the odds of at one prediction I made from Chapter 7 being right just increased substantially. See link, paragraph 3, last bullet point. 

Thus ends the mid-chapter cliffhanger, presumably until September 26th!

Names

Dunleavy: "Brown one of the mountain"  Appropriate for the only biracial sibling. 

Prudence: "Caution, discretion."  There are a few more ironic names a parent could give an unplanned, out-of-wedlock child (Chastity, for instance) but not many. But Pru is very cautious in other areas, particularly in the warnings she gives to Strike about the mind-control methods cults use, emphasizing that no one, no matter how smart, is invulnerable to the psychological manipulation. 

Sylvie: (Sylvia) "Spirit of the wood." 

Gerry: (Gerald) "Rule of the spear." Both of Prudence's kids have nice outdoorsy names that go well the her last name. 

Declan: "Full of goodness, man of prayer."  By all accounts, he's a good guy who gets along well with Strike, which is an improvement over Greg. 

Rusty: We still don't know his hair color but his picture on the ceiling temple has a bleeding head wound, which is a type of "redhead."

Timeline

Jack must be close to his 13th birthday now. 

The picture of Rust and Jonathan is about 30 years old, as Jonathan is mid-sixties now and in his 30's in the picture. 30  years ago (1996) Correction: 1986 is when the police raided and shut down the pedophilia ring at Aylmerton Community. So, did Papa J and Rust meet before or after that?

Harry Potter Echoes

The ceiling mural in the UHC temple, with the pictures of the Five Prophets, surrounded by hand-holding "paper doll" -like figures reminds us of the painting on Luna's bedroom ceiling, with the pictures of the five DA members:  Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville, surrounded by a golden chain created by the repeated word "friends." 

Literary ALchemy/I Ching

No obvious literary alchemy here, so, in view of the significant number, I will share the meaning of I Ching hexagram 48.: The Well. The epigraph for part 1:  The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed is from Hexagram 48.

Throughout all the cultures of the world, the well has served as a symbol for that which sustains life and provides a constant, inexhaustible source of nourishment. Human nature is basically the same: the passage of time cannot add to its dimensions, nor take anything away. Still, just as the well can be deepened to produce clearer water, we can enrich our lives by delving deeply within, to tap our essential nature and reach the true source of spiritual nourishment.

Beware of shallow thinking. Like a little learning, it can be dangerous. The image of the well suggests that going further within produces greater clarity. Be patient, and you will penetrate your problems—and your own nature—as deeply as you can. Self-development is key to reaching down to tap the clear water. If you do not lower your bucket into the depths, you’re likely to come up empty. Remember: when greater depth is sought, lessening the speed of normal operations may be required. A shallow carelessness in the process of meeting deeper needs can be self-defeating or even dangerous.

The use of Hexgram 48 as the Epigram for Part one seems ominous. It could be interpreted as referring to the Forgeman/Chapman Farm transition. The name of the place is changed, but its "well" is the same,  The same evil and danger Strike knew is unchanged in the modern church. If Robin is going in without the knowledge of the evil commune Strike knew, she is probing shallow waters.  

Ring Structure

Robin gets to try on thousands of dollars worth of designer clothes she could never afford, just as she did at Vashti's, (Book 1) and winds up being given a very generous wardrobe gift. 

Strike has now bought the nephews identical toy weapons in books 2, 5 and 7. 

Chapters 9 and 11 both have Strike visiting a half-sister and getting compliments on his weight loss as soon as he arrives. He talks about the UHC case with both, though we are still waiting to see how the talk with Lucy turns out. 

If, one the very slim chance that PIG points to Sir Colin, we'd have an echo to Cuckoo's Calling in the form of the client being the killer. 

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