The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read Chapter 68: The most painful chapter in the book.

"Wooden tables were set outside, 
sheltered by square blue umbrellas."

We are now heading into the last chapter in Part Five, Chapter 68, the disastrous debrief in the Swan Taphouse in Ironbridge. This exchange, I think, was particularly disappointing because the pub was one of the Twitter hints that Galbraith dropped prior to publication. Given that swans have such a connection to romance in the Strike series,  it was not expected to be the site of Strike and Robin's worst fight since Mucky Ricci, and possibly since Noel Brockbank. And, in some ways, this fight was more painful to watch: the two others were both about Robin doing something in the context of a case that she felt was necessary, but which Strike didn't like. Brutal as it was, there was only one real issue to reconcile on to restore the relationship. This time, we see the partners and alleged best friends take multiple, and highly personal shots at each other. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-read, Chapters 65-67: Cracking the mandala code?

In Chapter 65, Robin and Strike finally converge on the same place physically (Ironbridge) though, as we shall see, they remain far apart emotionally.  This will lead to the harshest test of their relationship certainly since 2014, when they had a two-week fight over Mucky Ricci and Robin nearly smashed the office door. This might even be the worst things have been between them since 2011, when he sacked her.

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-Read, Chapters 60-64: Why Robin is a pit pony and Valentine Longcaster is Bellatrix Lestrange.

Greetings from snowy (actually, mostly sleety) Virginia, where roads are practically impassible!  Playing catch-up on the re-read. 

Strike and Robin continue their physical and emotional distance from each other in this next section. Strike has only one brief chapter (61) ,so I'll start with that, then address Robin's visit to God's Own Junkyard and its aftermath. 

Two and a half hours after leaving Crieff, Strike broke his journey south in the small Scottish town of Moffat, where a café in the market square supplied him with a coffee and a burger and a welcome chance to rest his right knee.

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read: Chapters 57-59: Did the train conversation with Fergus Robertson give us a hint about Book 9?

Running a bit late with this installment thanks to some work obligations.  A huge snowfall, perhaps the heaviest in 10 years, is bearing down on us this weekend, so I expect to have some downtime to catch up. 

We're still in the Strike-Robin alternating chapters, with Strike's solo train journey to Scotland being covered in Chapter 57,  Robin's interview with Tia Thompson* in Chapter 58 and Strike's painful drive and still more painful walk with Jade Semple in Chapter 59.  I'll start with Robin's, then look at Strike's back-to-back. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read, Chapters 52-56: Barclay's prawn allergy and Robin's bad day.

Chapters 51-62 follow an alternating pattern between our detectives, with odd-numbered chapters focused on Strike and the even-numbered on Robin. This reflects their physical and emotional separation that occurs in this part of the book. The pattern only gets broken in Chapters 62, 63, and 64, which all focus on Robin, then the pair reunites physically in Ironbridge, though, as we will see, their emotional reconnection will not truly happen until Valentine's Day.  Rather than work through these chapters chronologically, I'm going to go first through the two fairly short Strike chapters, then the three much longer Robin ones.

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-Read, Part 4, Chapters 48-51: Ilsa's past warning, White Lion and a likely reason for Robin's loss of faith in Strike

Chapter 48 starts with another annoying exchange between Robin and the Kimphomaniac, while Strike makes his mysterious phone call.

Robin withdrew again. To her displeasure, Kim was taking her time about leaving the office, standing beside the door and fiddling with the contents of her shoulder bag.

KFC is being both passive-aggressive and smug about the news she had to tell Strike that she "probably shouldn't say" to Robin. I'm sure Robin was pleased when she left. 

White Lion's "Little Fighter" : Does Rupert's "Theme Song" work better for Tyler?

There is a lot to talk about in the next Real-Time Re-Read post, so I decided to collect the video and lyrics to White Lion's "Little Fighter" in its own post.  

The band was a favorite of Peter Fleetwood, the supposed father of Rupert, who died in an avalanche when Rupert was only two. Rupert had a video of his father singing "Little Fighter" to him as a baby, so, according to Decima, he adopted the tune as a kind of "personal theme song."  Onc of his prized possessions was a vintage band t-shirt, which Rupert considered "lucky" but which, according to his roommate Zacharias, he destroyed shortly before his disappeared. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-Time Re-Read, Part 4, Chapters 45-47: Robin recalls her high school German, and gets more reasons to hate Kim.

Today, January 10th,  is National Houseplant Appreciation Day, so I'm sharing a picture of my Phyllis. Does anyone else have one?  

Robin was relieved to have one project to focus on at the moment, a place to concentrate her energies, where she couldn’t keep fretting about personal matters: trying to persuade Gretchen Schiff, the former flatmate of Sofia Medina, to meet her in person.

Chapter 45 is mainly Robin's interview with Gretchen and her not-so-helpful boyfriend Max. This interview is a huge breakthrough, as is shows that Sofia was seeing, and was likely killed by, the impersonator of Calvin Osgood and drastically increases the likelihood of it being Sofia and Osgood who robbed William Wright's flat.  This scene emphasizes how many of the breakthroughs needed to crack the case of the sex trafficking ring were made by Robin. Strike's contributions were largely related to the alternate Wright suspects: tracking down Danny DeLeon on Sark, deducing the location of Semple's body, etc.: important but lesser aspects of the case.  

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-Read: Part 4, Chapters 42-44, Opals, alchemy and hopes for the Jowanet.

I hoped everyone enjoyed the delightful end of Part Three, with an intoxicated Robin opening her fabulous silver bracelet on the bathroom floor early Christmas morning, because we are heading into a downward spiral over the next two parts. Robin and Strike's relationship will, arguably, be tested more than at any point than when he fired her back at the end of Career of Evil.  Part Four culminates with a heartbroken and disillusioned Robin canceling the Scotland trip that would have taken them to a lovely and romantic Lake District hotel, and Part Five ends with her storming out of the Swan Taphouse in Ironbridge, leaving Strike to eat her meal. We are in for a rough ride. 

I'm going to continue to frame the conversation around the opening and closing quotations from each chapter. 

The Hallmarked Man Real-time Re-read for 2026: The schedule for Parts 4-10

I had so much fun re-reading the first three parts of The Hallmarked Man during the approximate time of year (and ending with a Christmas Eve post on Christmas Eve) that I decided to continue the trend in the new year: start Part 4 during the first week of January with the goal of finishing on April 7th; the date of Strike's unfortunate encounter with Robin on the office stairs. This will mean a slower-paced read-through: roughly 3-4 chapters per bi-weekly post instead of 6-7. Given how complex this storyline will get, slowing down the pace is probably a good thing. 

Here's the planned schedule:

Tuesday, January 6th:  Chapters 42-44.

Saturday, January 10th: Chapters 45-47.

Tuesday, January 13th:  Chapters 48-51.

Saturday, January 17th: Chapters 52-56.

Tuesday, January 20th:  Chapters 57-59.

Saturday, January 24th: Chapters 60-64. 

Tuesday, January 27th:  Chapters 65-67.

Saturday, January 31th: Chapters 68-69. 

Tuesday, February 3rd:  Chapters 70-72.

Saturday, February 7th: Chapters 73-75.

Tuesday, February 10th:  Chapters 76-79.

Saturday, February 14th: Chapters 80-83.

Tuesday, February 17th:  Chapters 84-86.

Saturday, February 21st: Chapters 87-88.

Tuesday, February 24th:  Chapters 89-92.

Saturday, February 28th: Chapters 93-95.

Tuesday, March 3rd: Chapters 96-97.

Saturday March 7th: Chapters 98-100.

Tuesday, March 10th: Chapters 101-104.

Saturday March 14th: Chapters 105-106.

Tuesday, March 17th: Chapters 107-109.

Saturday March 21st: Chapters 110-112. 

Tuesday, March 24th: Chapters 113-115.

Saturday March 28th: Chapters 116-120.

Tuesday, March 31st: Chapters 121-123.

Saturday. April 4th: Chapters 124-125.

Tuesday, April 7th, Chapters 126-127. 

I hope folks will read along and join the discussion.