The Silkworm, Chapters 35-37: The misremembering bookseller, Simpsons on the Strand and Pippa, plus the cover of The Hallmarked Man!

Before I continue with the pre-The Hallmarked Man re-read of the Silkworm, I want to share a bit of important Strike news: the release of the Hallmarked cover!

This is certainly the closest look at a building we've gotten on any cover to date, and of course, the building is recognizable as the Freemasons' Hall of London, the same building pictured in an early Twitter clue. As I said when the clue was first revealed, there could be some very cool connections to other books:

But what about the Freemason building?  I suspect that will relate in some way to our heroes' major mystery. As some have pointed out, the United Grand Hall is a popular event venue, so it is possible a visit there would have nothing to do with the Freemason organization itself. But, the most interesting thing about the Freemasons to me is their association with police corruption in the 1970's, apparently as a result of some Met cops being in the same lodges with career criminals. This makes me think of gangsters like Mucky Ricci, whom the police were clearly powerless to stop and makes me wonder if the mystery will involve some dirty cops, past or present.  If so, that could certainly complicate things for Robin and Murphy.  More importantly, it could be a connection to some of themes of TB, which also involved looking back at police work in the 1970's.  That would be an interesting link between the two Book 5's of each ring.  

Fans have also been told to pay particular attention to Temple #17 in the lodge, which apparently features an elaborately carved swan as part of its decor. Swans, of course, are a favorite bird to Strike fans, from the ones tha did not swim together at Robin and Matt's doomed wedding, to the single swan on the pub near the unhappy couple's marital home, to the double swans that close out LW to the kissing swan towels at Steven Douwaite's hotel. There is also the mythological connection to Strike's mother Leda. 

The swan is also a common symbol in literary alchemy, representing the albedo, or purification stage of transformation. I was struck by the similar, albeit darker color scheme as The Running Grave, with the combination of yellow and grey. This is more evidence that we are headed for as second albedo volume, in Book 8, paired with the water-washed and baptism-filled seventh volume. That certainly fits with all the silver images seen in Twitter headers, to date.

It also makes an interesting contrast with the two black-backgrounded covers of Troubled Blood and The Ink Black Heart, the nigredo duo.  Should we expect reddish covers for books 9 and 10? 

So, when covers come, can blurbs be far behind?  About 100 days left, Denmark Street Devotees!

So, back to The Silkworm!

Robin, who has arrived at the office worn out and puffy-eyed over the post-funeral row with the Flobberworm, is delighted to be assigned genuine investigative jobs: both finding out when the Fancourt interview was filmed and following up with the bookseller who claims to have seen Quine on November 8th.  Part of what makes the Strike series fun is the many references to real-life places and news events, both major (royal weddings, Brexit) and minor.  This section of The Silkworm is especially full of them. The news stories that allow Robin to discredit his claim--- the five defecting bishops and the German sinkhole --are both genuine and available to read. 

Simpsons in the Strand, like most eateries our heroes visit, is also an old and famous London restaurant, that was sadly a casualty of the COVID-19 lockdown, but for which there are plans to reopen in 2025. So, hopefully it will be back on the Strike tours soon. My guess is they won't let Jerry Waldegrave back in, though.  But, the most memorable part of the Waldegrave interview is one of those apparent offhand comments that turns out to be of major (pardon the pun) importance in a future book:  our first glimpse of Noel Brockbank. 

Strike remembered the alcoholic major whse 12-year-old daughter had disclosed sexual abuse in her school in Germany. When Strike had arrived at the family house the major had taken a swing at him with a broken bottle. Strike had laid him out. 

Chapter 37 brings us Pippa Midgley and her third encounter with Strike. As much as I enjoy Mr. Galbraith's writing, he does occasionally paint himself into corners:

• One example was in Cuckoo's Calling, where he wanted John Bristow and Jonah Agyeman to be running in close proximity to each other, despite Jonah's statement that he started running as fast as he could when he saw Lula fall, whereas John had to wait for the Bestiguis to run downstairs and sound the alarm, Derrick Wilson to go outside and check Lula's body, then return to the building and go upstairs to check Lulu's flat, while the Bestiguis return to their own. This would have taken at least a couple of minutes, by which time Jonah would have been long gone. 
• Another was from Career of Evil, where Strike and Robin both inexplicably fail to have their suspicions aroused when, of all the people in London, Donald Laing is the one who approaches Robin when she slips on the curry, and conveniently tries to lure her into his apartment. 
• Unfortunately, the scene with Pippa seems to be another credulity-straining spot. Strike, a self-described "knackered old dinosaur" with his knee so sore he's using his walking stick, supposedly grabs a tall and "surprisingly strong" young woman (who had probably experienced male puberty) off a snowy and slippery street, holds her with one arm while picking up her knife with his other, then pauses to be buzzed in the building (with no one noticing he is physically grappling with a woman), then drags her up two flights of a spiral staircase and forces her into the office. As we have seen, when his knee is bad, he struggles to get himself upstairs; can he really be expected to drag a struggling person up against her will?  Adrenalin rushes can only do so much. 

I get that the interrogation of Pippa had to happen in the privacy of the office, and that she was unlikely to walk in of her own accord, but it seems nigh impossible for Strike to have physically subdued her in that way.  

However, in inauspicious beginning doesn't stop me from enjoying the first of Strike and Robin's "good-cop, bad-cop" routines, all the more enjoyable because of the spontaneity of it. What I would really like to see as an echo to this scene is an interrogation where Strike is the good cop and Robin the bad. I could see that happening with a female suspect who finds Strike attractive (and who, besides Pippa, doesn't?). Strike would flirt back with her to try to get information while Robin would get aggressive and angry with her. It would be all the more amusing because Robin would probably be genuinely irritated, and jealous. 

Next time: Leonora's arrest, and dinner with Al. 

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