The Silkworm Finale: Showdown at the Chelsea Arts Club

 

The Chelsea Arts Club apparently gets repainted on a regular basis, but its Wikipedia picture has the decor that is described in the book. Nice of Al to get Strike in and interesting that Daniel Chard tries to have them kicked out. He must not have recognized that Al was with him; I doubt he would want to risk losing out on Jonny Rokeby's biography by offending his son. 

The moment were Strike toasts Liz Tassel with his glass is also quite priceless.  That's when I guessed she was the killer on my first read. While we are clearly supposed to guess Fancourt after he is summoned to the garden, it makes little sense, especially after John Bristow, that Strike would lure a killer out to a deserted garden with him. At least this way, they'll be two men versus one 60-year old woman when she's confronted. 

I really enjoyed the imagery of the statue in the fountain:

He ploughed a solitary trench through the frozen whiteness, surrounded by silent beauty, coming to a halt beside a small round pond that had become a disc of thick grey ice. A plump bronze cupid sat in the middle on an oversized clamshell. It wore a wig of snow and pointed its bow and arrow, not anywhere it might hit a human being, but straight upwards at the dark heavens. 

This is the fourth time in the book that some sort of statue has reflected the tone or theme of a scene. We had the Damien Hirst dissected angel in Devon, which exacerbated Robin's nausea and gave us a reason to associate exposed guts with Daniel Chard; the marbles of Sir and Lady Wyvil in the Masham church, which foreshadowed Robin's unease at marrying Matthew, the Avenger of Murder Fury sculpture that was Fancourt's "impulse buy," although, shown by the little by who played around Strike's feet at Holloway (hat-tip to the Strike and Ellacott files), that title better belongs to Strike and now a cupid with a vertical aim.Who does this echo?

Tassel addressed Strike in her deep, croaky voice. "Pinks is missing Michael."

"Something you'd know all about," said Strike

The snow whispered down upon leaves and onto the frozen pond where the cupid sat, pointing its arrow skyward.

Strike attributes much of Liz's sociopathy to lack of a love life--  in other words, the fact that she was never able to strike anyone with her own cupid's arrow. 

I love the big reveal scene. It's a treat to get to see a third party witness it; Fancourt's reactions are pretty priceless.  While the recovery of the typewriter strains credulity a bit---  what were the odds on the cover art Orloando collected at Roper Chard including the exact cliff that Tassel chose to dispose of the evidence--  not to mention also including the kangaroo book that Strike was forced to read to his godson---it makes for great drama. My favorite part is when the man whose "innards must be glacial" calls Strike a "cold-blooded bastard."  For my head-cannon about this possible Ebenezer Scrooge moment for him, see here. 

I always find the cab drive with Robin and Liz a little hard to read---  mainly because I always wonder what would have happened if a bystander on the sidewalk had been hurt or killed. And how is it that Robin, seat-belted behind the wheel, is knocked unconscious while the 60is woman who was unbelted and scrabbling through the glass partition got away unscathed and was able to run up the street immediately afterwards?

I believe this book was the first time I ever heard the expression "Thank f*ck"---  which, by TRG, has apparently become all the subcontractors' favorite expletive. 

As for the epilogue, I always enjoy re-reading that. We get the first instance of Strike going to stay in Nick and Ilsa's spare room, the explanation of what Robin was looking for in the bin, and why, and her reaction to Orlando's angel picture, which is so different from her response to the angel statue at Chard's.  And we see Strike again closing a book with a perfect gift. Makes you wonder why his talent in that area declined so precipitously by TB?  Of course, by next Christmas, we'll be in the skipped year of LW, when their friendship was strained by the aftermath of the wedding, so maybe he decided he had to go for safe, unimaginative gifts then. 

Thus completes the pre-Hallmarked re-read of The Silkworm.  Tune in tomorrow for a reading schedule for my favorite book of the series, Lethal White, whose re-read starts June 2nd. 

Comments welcome!  Though some find it easier on the Substack version of this blog.