Welcome to part 2 of my even-numbered re-read of the Cormoran Strike series, where I will be looking at Book 2 of the series,
The Silkworm. There are a number of reasons to expect echoes of this book in
The Hallmarked Man.
The Silkworm takes place over just a two months in winter 2010, from early November until just before Christmas, when the UK was experiencing record-breaking snows. While we don't know the exact timeline of
THM yet, we have been told the storyline will include Strike's birthday (November 23rd) and the Christmas season (JKR/RG's has tweeted that Dean Martin's "Silver Bells" will be featured)-- so at least part of the book will be set during a similar time of year. For the record, there were five named winter storms during the 2016-17 season, although none seemed to have a huge impact on London, so if they disrupt our heroes' plans, it will probably be during their travels.
The opening chapter of
The Silkworm begins with a vignette that seemingly has little to do with the rest of the mystery: Strike meeting
News of the World journalist Dominic Culpepper in a breakfast cafe to pass off some incriminating evidence on a wealthy British Lord. This is our first introduction to the public-schoolboy-turned tabloid reporter--- which I would think an odd career choice for an upper-class Brit, who is at least related to titled people, but maybe tabloids aren't considered as trashy there? Culpepper will turn up again in Book 3 (where he is angered at not getting the inside scoop on the severed leg story, then later publishes Strike's want ad for a new assistant that baits the trap for Donald Laing) and in Book 4 (where he hires Mitch Patterson to dig up dirt on Jasper Chiswell, after Strike turns him down). Then, he goes silent until
The Running Grave, where Fergus Robertson first name-drops him as a journalist Strike dislikes. Then, at book's end, we hear that he is a player in the Case of the Arsehole Cricketer, as the married journalist who is allegedly sleeping with the client's ex in exchange for news stories. Given the unusual number of details mentioned for an end-of-the-book case, it seems likely that this case, like that of Miss Jones, will span two books. It could be very interesting to see Strike investigate his old employer.
A couple of interesting notes on Strike and Culpepper's conversation:
- Strike warns Culpepper that hacking phones is illegal. Barely eight months later, the News of the World will be forced out of business due to a scandal involving illegal phone-hacking. Culpepper will be one of multiple unemployed NotW journalists to get hired by The Sun.
- Culpepper's parting jab to Strike, asking if he "f*cked" the Lord's PA to get the details of his misbehavior, is a bit rich considering that, by 2016, the married Culpepper appears to be doing just that to the ex-Mrs. Cricketer. If Strike manages to nail Culpepper for that in THM, it will be a nice reflection to The Silkworm.
Strike makes his way back to the office, where we are delighted to learn he is no longer homeless, having secured a convenient bedsit right above his office. We also learn he has been working long hours, with the intent of paying off his debts as soon as possible. He snatches a few hours of sleep, to be woken by Robin after he sleeps through the alarm. We see a delightful inversion of John Bristow's initial visit, where, instead of accepting a well-paying client because he is desperate for money, Strike dismisses a wealthy "tosser" to take on the impoverished Mrs. Quine. In addition to this odd but ultimately delightful new client, readers are also introduced to the fabulous Farting Sofa.
William Baker is also the first of several clients to insult or threaten a woman in Strike's presence, and be chased off by Strike taking a single step forward. Strike will later repeat this feat with Saul Morris and with Tim Ashcroft, the latter while on crutches.
We also learn that Robin has been trying, in vain, to get Matthew and Strike together for drinks, in hopes of reducing Matthew's animosity towards both the detective and Robin's job with him. Too sleepy to register the rescheduled pub outing, Strike goes upstairs to sleep. That evening, we learn a bit more about Strike's relationship to Uncle Ted, and the way Strike imitated both his orderliness and his fondness for Arsenal. This is a bit different picture of Uncle Ted than we got in
CC, where we learn only that Uncle Ted once threatened one of Leda's weirder lovers with a bloody nose, and that he inspired Strike's interest in both the Army and police work. With Ted now widowed, suffering from dementia and relocating to a London care facility, it will be interesting to see if Strike learns either why Ted supports Arsenal, or how he tracked the kids to Shumba's Brixton squat in
THM.
I must admit a certain puzzlement about the name of both Christian Fisher and his company, Crossfire, given the significance of so many JKR/RG names. First name Christian, surname Fisher (as in "fishers of men" and a company name that brings to mind the crosses and flames seen on so many church logos, such as the United Methodist, PCUSA and Church of God? But I see no religious significance at all in either the character or his business; his main purpose is to be the town gossip and spread rumors about the content of Bombyx Mori. The best explanation I have come across was the one from the Strike and Ellacott Files podcast, where Mr. Fisher is the one who fishes around for a juicy story. Are we perhaps supposed to see a link between Fisher and the work of Dominic Culpepper on the gossipy tabloids?
As it is, the biggest takeaway from the Christian Fisher interview is the knowledge that a lot of people, including publisher Daniel Chard, his lawyers and the famous writer Michael Fancourt, are more interested in the Bombyx Mori manuscript that Quine took with him than in Quine himself.
I'll be back on Saturday with the first encounters with Liz Tassel and Kathryn Kent.
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