Goblet of Fire-The Running Grave Links, Part 1: A look at perspective and content in the first three chapters.

As I go through this somewhat strange exercise of testing the Double Wedding Band model with a look at potential connections of the seven Harry Potter books with the last seven Strike books. one thing that is becoming clear to me is that some of the clearest thematic connections turn up in the openings of the books. See here, here and here for examples. In a way, this makes sense, given that some of the most obvious examples of chiastic structure in the Harry Potter series show up in the opening Dursley segments. See the illustration from my chapter on humor in Harry Potter from Harry Potter, the Ivory Tower and Beyond for examples. 

Happily, as I started my look at The Goblet of Fire and The Running Grave, I saw that this pairing is no exception.  The most notable similarity is that both books start with a somewhat unusual point of view, one of someone other than the protagonists. Goblet of Fire sets up the main storyline by providing first a newsreel-like history of the Riddle family murder in Little Hangleton, followed by the suspicion cast on Frank Bryce and his subsequent discovery of Wormtail and Voldemort hiding out in the old Riddle house.  Interestingly, though the end of the scene cuts into Harry Potter's scar-tingling nightmare that he presumably sees through the mental link with the Dark Lord, the narrative presented to the readers is from the perspective of Frank Bryce, including events and thoughts of which Voldemort was unaware. Chapters from the perspective of someone other than Harry are very rare in the Potter series, occurring only in the first chapters of books 1, 4 and 7 and in the first two chapters of book 6. 

The Strike series is also usually from the perspective of one of the lead detectives, although other perspectives are more common than in Harry Potter. For example, Book 3 has multiple chapters from the killer's perspective, while Book 6 shows many online chats among the moderators of Drek's Game. The Running Grave opens with a Prologue setting up the detectives' major case, delivered through a series of letters between Colin and Sally Edensor, their son Will, eventual murder victim Kevin Pirbright and Edensor's lawyer, along with some interview excerpts with church principals Noli Seymour and Giles Harmon. 

Both of these opening, alternate-perspective segments end with a relatively abrupt death. Frank Bryce, like the Riddles of fifty years prior, is Avada Kedavra'ed by Voldemort, and therefore "is dead before he reached the floor." Sally Edensor succumbs fairly quickly to her brain tumor, even though "the doctors thought she had longer." Although neither of these deaths is the major murder our heroes will eventually solve in these books, the story of both deaths is used to set up the major storyline. 

Moving onto the next few of chapters of each book. Chapters 1-2 of TRG shows young Benjamin Herbert's christening celebration, including Strike and Robin as godparents and Bijou's initial efforts to attract Strike. Chapter 3 follows Strike back to his attic flat, where he prepares a diet-friendly dinner for himself, takes a call from Shanker, rejects Charlotte's tipsy phone call and ponders his feelings for Robin before finding and throwing away Bijou's phone number. 

For Harry, Chapter 2 ("The Scar") finds Harry waking up from the nightmare with his scar hurting, then, after a bit of series recap for the benefit of new readers, deciding to write to his newfound godfather, Sirius Black, for advice. In Chapter 3 ("The Invitation"), Harry breakfasts on grapefruit with the Dursleys (who are their usual charming selves), Mrs. Weasley's letter inviting Harry to the Quidditch World Cup arrives, and Harry is able to finagle permission from Uncle Vernon to go. The chapter ends on a happy note, with Harry enjoying a better breakfast of birthday cake in the privacy of his bedroom and looking forward to his liberation from Privet Drive the next day.  

There are certainly many connecting elements between the first three chapters of both books.  For example:

• Letters: The Chapman Farm case in largely introduced through letters; Harry writes and sends his letter to Sirius, endures Uncle Vernon's ire over Mrs. Weasley's excessive stamps on her invitation and exchanges Owl Post with Ron to arrange his visit. 
• Weight loss: Dudley has been placed on a strict weight-loss regime by his school nurse and Aunt Petunia is insisting the entire family follow the diet, forcing Harry to beg his wizarding friends for food to avoid starvation. Dudley is highly unhappy about the diet and has been cheating whenever he can. Strike has apparently been following a pretty strict weight loss regime over the eight months since TIBH left off, since he has lost three stone (42 pounds!).  Nonetheless, he is not thrilled with his improved diet, as shown by his "angrily poking" his steamed broccoli.
• Cake: Mrs. Weasley has, Pat-like, provided a fruitcake and Harry still has two of his four birthday cakes to sustain him in the food-restricted Dursley home. Strike is hungry at the reception and eagerly anticipates cutting the celebratory iced fruitcake with its teddy bear topper, but it is still uncut for the photo ops at the end of the chapter. 
• Godfathers:  Harry, still unused to having a godfather, takes a while to think of Sirius when he is pondering whom he could ask about his scar pain. Strike already has two godsons (although Master Herbert is probably the only one he is particularly enthusiastic about, and that probably has something to do with having Robin as the godmother) but is clearly unaccustomed to what one is supposed to do with a crying baby. 
• Milk: Ilsa nurses the very hungry Baby Benjamin; Voldemort orders Wormtail to "milk" (i.e. extract venom from) Nagini. 
• 
  Snakes: Goblet of Fire is the first appearance of Nagini. I am going to make the same comparison to Bijou as I did for the TRG-DH connections, based on one possible meaning of Bijou's real name, Belinda: "bright snake." 
• Like Nagini in GoF, Bijou first appears in chapter 1. 
• Her shocking pink dress certainly fits the "bright" component. 
• Interestingly, "Bijou" means jewel; the first GoF appearance is one of the few places where Nagini is explicitly said to have a diamondback pattern. 
• Strike can tell instantly that Bijou means trouble; I think Frank can tell that pretty quickly about Nagini, too.
• Ilsa decribes Bijou as a "man-hungry pain-in-the-arse." While we don't see the aftermath of Frank's death, given that Harry wakes up from his nightmare at the moment of the murder, I think we can be fairly certain that Nagini made a meal of Frank's corpse, just as she later did of poor Charity Burbage. The poor beast has to eat something, right?
• If we don't mind jumping ahead to the next book, both Bijou and Nagini will make more trouble there. In Order of the Phoenix, Nagini nearly kills Arthur Weasley, a major father figure in the book; Harry saves him by having a vision through the horcrux connection.  In The Hallmarked Man, rumors of Strike fathering Bijou's baby nearly destroy the agency, and it takes a meeting with Strike's own father, Jonny Rokeby, to save it. 
• I would not at all object to Bijou being decapitated at the finale of Book 10. 
• Name echoes: The final bow on this collection of linkages is the fact that both murder victims, Kevin Pirbright and Frank Bryce, have their name repeated in the other book. The Golden Prophet is Margaret Cathcart-Bryce, and the first wizard child Harry sees at the World Cup campsite is a little boy named Kevin who is engorgio-ing a slug with his father's wand. 
• OK, I jumped a bit ahead in with that one. 

Overall, I found a surprisingly high number of connections in the first three chapters. With 37 chapters in GoF and 136 in TRG, obviously the current relative pacing with have to be adjusted. I think I'll next look at Harry's visit at the Burrow and trip to the Quidditch World Cup (Chapters 4-10) and Robin's initial infiltration of the UHC temple and all of the agency happenings before she departs for Chapman farm.  That will have her mini-bus ride to Chapman Farm corresponding to the train ride to Hogwarts. 

But, even if other linkages prove scarce, I would say I am four-for-four on the opening segments of the putative Second Ring of Strike books corresponding to the beginnings of the corresponding Harry Potter books.

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