The Hallmarked Man Part 8: Spoilers to Chapter 105

Strike and Robin are acting a bit more like themselves in this section. Robin choosing to stay with Ryan because she is concerned about his mental health and accepting partial responsibility (however wrongly) for his drinking is at least more typical of her than being upset with Strike for his womanizing and thinking he might have battered Charlotte. Robin successfully fighting off the attack, and the touching conversation with Rokeby are, again, the type of scenes that have made us love the series.

 I don't think it's coincidence that Tish is working for the same hotel chain Charlotte's family started. 

Historically, in Strike novels, whenever there's a dog near a picture, then there is an important clue. Tigger was present when the detectives got the pictures of Laing, Rattenbury when they first saw Mare Morning, the guide dog Gwynn with Rhiannon Wynn's unhappy portrait and Basil when they got the picture of Deidre Doherty.  The remark Longcaster made about "screwing" Anjelica that weekend boasts the possibility that he did the same to Veronica on this or another occasion, which is another bit of support for the "Rupert's a Longcaster" incest hypothesis.  His nasty statement about what kind of children they would make and Cosima's indication that she "didn't know" something...  she's the one who had the genetic testing done and might be traced as a half-sibling if Rupert subsequently got tested. 

At least we know now from where Vile-lentine gets his charming personality. Dino makes a reference to Wodehouse, which is funny, given he is such a caricature of the upper class himself. He actually looks down on the Queen for having too common taste in drinks. His name means either "little sword" (which could have Freudian connotations), "brave bear" if derived from the Italian Bernardino, or "terrible" if derived from the Greek, as in dinosaur.  I'm thinking that last meaning is most fitting, although it's a bit comical because most Americans, at least, associate the name first with Fred Flintstone's pet. 

I'm really hoping that Dino's antipathy towards Decima is a suspicion that she isn't really his daughter. If we get an incest avoidance by double infidelity, it's going to be reminiscent of a Shakespearean comedy, making relevant Strike's earlier remark about real life not being like a Shakespeare comedy where a change of hairstyle creates an impenetrable disguise that is unrecognizable by your own sibling. 

It is odd that Robin doesn't tell Strike that the passage from Morals and Dogma includes the Latin phrase from the note. 

The double-agent move of taking Mrs. Two-times as a client to spy on their other client strikes me as of questionable ethics. Strike told Robin back in LW that "we're like lawyers, we're on the client's side." It's certainly unethical for a lawyer to represent both sides of a divorcing couple, without the other's knowledge. 

With any luck, Iverson will declare her love for Murphy and he'll waltz away int the sunset with her. And Wardle dropped a hint that the reputation the Kimphomaniac had at work was not due to her skill in police work. It's a good thing he's an attentive uncle and his niece keeps fish. The symbolism of the black goldfish that looks like Strike, is named Cormoran and is dying due to self-sabotage is not exactly subtle. It was interesting that Strike's decision to try to save the beastie comes after he thinks of Robin's previous engagement ring and the "stop" signal it gave.  The first indication that working with Strike and being with Matthew were incompatible was the fact that a bit of pea got caught on the setting of Robin's ring.

I know Galbraith likes to keep the novels accessible to first time readers of the series, but sometimes I wish he'd let us recognize red flags for ourselves, like the fact that Murphy's parents are carbon copies of Matthew's. Speaking of which, the symbolism of Mrs. Murphy knitting a baby sweater during the game, then Murphy picking a fight because Robin worked rather than engage with the family, is also not exactly subtle. 

The unexpected text message from Martin is a bit ominous, especially when he doesn't follow up to Robin's reply. I had actually worried we were going to lose Michael in this series, but I am wondering if something tragic will befall Martin, perhaps even suicide. As Carmen shows every sign of being an unfit mother, little Dirk may need surrogate parents. 

We have violets!  On Chloe's bracelet, a supposed gift from Tyler with the odd remark that it did not match her dress in her birthday pictures and her over-reaction to being teased about having a relationship with Tyler and being called Shrinking Violet. She also seems about the right age to be Jolanda.

 I'm a little surprised Robin is using the name Venetia Hall on a public comment. Didn't Mitch Patterson learn about the alias in LW? 

Hugo Whitehead is potentially another albedo name:  Hugo means "mind" or "thought" but, as John Granger pointed out after the publication of Deathly Hallows, is also one of the alchemical names of Ron and Hermione's children, with the "Hg" being the symbol for mercury, or quicksilver. The name of the other child is Rose, which suggests red. If that wasn't enough, Faber means  "blacksmith" or "metal worker" (appropriate for the smelting/refining them of this book) and the mother is Lucinda, meaning "light." 

I am absolutely ecstatic that I was right about the Dominic Culpepper threat being the impetus for Strike meeting with Jonny Rokeby. Yes, I thought it would be a book, rather than an article, and that Rokeby and Leda would be included, with Whittaker or Oakden as accomplices, but the essence was right so I'm declaring victory. 

Like virtually everyone else, I loved the meeting between Rokeby and Strike. My favorite parts were:

• Rokeby grabbing the phone and getting the Candy story retracted as well as the Bijou one.
• Learning that Joan was the one who told Rokeby Leda was squandering the child support
• The news that Strike has a connection to is biological grandfather, the police officer. 
• This is especially important since Strike got his curly hair from his maternal grandfather, but thankfully none of the abusive nature.
• Rokeby thinking Strike was Eric Bloom's because of the curly hair and the middle name. 
• The advice not to let Robin go, which echoes what Strike visualized Ted approving of at the beginning of the book. 
• Rokeby asking to know him and Strike agreeing to a beer. 

Error:  Auuuuuuugh!!!   They are back to calling the test Rokeby took when Strike was five a DNA test, when that kind of testing was not available until Strike was about 12.  That had actually been corrected to "paternity test" last time it came up. 

Connections to even-numbered books: 

The Silkworm:

• Strike is taken to the police station after finding a body, is kept waiting and not allowed to smoke. 
• We learn that Mrs. Cunliffe did not really like Robin and Mr. Cunliffe was overbearing, especially when drinking was at the funeral. 
• I was really hoping we'd see a reverse of Arsenal's unexpected loss by having them pull even and win, but no such luck. It would have been a nice signal that Strike will win the battle for Robin.  But as it is....
• During the visit with Rokeby, the master of the house presses a button to summon a Filipino servant. 

Lethal White:

• Strike's inability to get the phone number of the Scottish Gateshead because someone else calls too quickly is similar to what happens with Billy (another paranoid person Strike wanted to talk to) in LW.  
• Surely there is a way to automatically record phone numbers that call the office? Why does this keep being an issue?
• Potential clues in a birthday party photo. 
• Strike gets upset at Robin for not being able to take on a last minute assignment because of obligations to the partner he doesn't like. 
• I forgot the super-injunction connection to LW before. 

The Ink Black Heart: 

• .Police are unhappy about Strike having skeleton keys, even though he has just used them to discover a murder. 
• We get a bit of an inversion of the Whitstable dinner here, with Robin admiring Strike's new blue shirt, and the two missing signals again. There, Strike thought Hugh Jacks might be proposing by text; here, he assumes Robin isn't bothering going home because Murphy's not there; in reality, she's avoiding going home because she thinks Murphy might turn up. 

Connections to #5 books.

 Troubled Blood:

• Strike chooses to apologize to Robin for an outburst first. 
• Strike has the conversation with Rokeby that he refused in Troubled Blood, and learns that Al was telling the truth about Rokeby not sending Peter Gillespie to harass him.

Order of the Phoenix:

• The meeting of Robin with Dino Longcaster in the club gives off major Harry being interrogated in Umbridge's office vibes, complete with an overly decorated room, him insisting she have a drink, and the white dog standing in for Dolores's cat plates. 
• Rokeby's story about being kicked out of his house as a teen and being taken in by a friend's parents is a lot like that of Sirius Black.

Other links.  

Career of Evil:

• Robin fighting off the attacker is most like her fighting off the Shacklewell Ripper, She activates something that sprays stuff in her eyes that blinds her, then making noise enough to attract attention. Only this time the guy gets caught!
• As before, Robin's initial response to Strike is "I know I f*cked up."
• Reference to Leda's love of Blue Oyster Cult. 

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