Beginning the Pre-THM re-read of Troubled Blood: Chapters 1-8

I am back from a wonderful trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru, where I got to view amazing wildlife, scenery and ancient temples. Now back to my final re-read, Troubled Blood.   But. if you are a follower of Twitter Headers and want a real treat, check out this essay on the Strike and Ellacott files blog.  

This book, often considered the best-written of the series, is the only one save Lethal White (whose prologue completed the cliffhanger at Robin's Masham wedding) in which both our heroes start out outside of London. I must say, I always feel a bit guilty when I start this book, since going to Masham to meet Ted and Joan in person had been one of my top wishes. I didn't mean for Joan's cancer to be the impetus, though. 

It is also interesting to learn more about Dave Polworth here, who so far we have met only as a shark-bitten, daredevil diver who dislikes the Met and London "on principle." We learn here that his principles are informed by a strong sense of Cornish nationalism. We also get the delightful incongruity of this rough man of the sea quoting Anna Karenina when advising Strike about his love life. 

Pre-Hallmarked re-read of Troubled Blood starts July 21.

As I mentioned earlier, I am taking a break from blogging, then will resume with my final re-read before The Hallmarked Man:  the book that probably gets the most votes for people's favorite of the series, that cold case marvel, Troubled Blood.

As regular readers know, per the Double Wedding Band model (see here and here) I hypothesize that the 10-book Strike Series is written in two overlapping 7 part rings, with, in addition to the usual "leapfrog" pattern (even-numbered books connecting to evens; odds to odds) I am predicting thematic connections between the corresponding books on the ring. Thus, we saw lots of connections between Cuckoo's Calling (#1 on first ring) and Lethal White (#1 on second ring); between The Silkworm and Troubled Blood, between Career of Evil and The Ink Black Heart  and between Lethal White and The Running Grave.  Now, we are looking for connections between Troubled Blood and The Hallmarked Man. Even from the hints and previews I have identified two:  (Spoiler warning):