Philosopher's Stone-Lethal White Connections, Part 4: Rule-breaking, Catullus, asphodel and the ICU

The connections between Philosopher's Stone and Lethal White are becoming more and more tenuous as we move into the story proper: in which a bad-tempered government minister in charge of a major international sporting event gets murdered by the son that he had previously gotten out of prison. It is only natural that the many, many Goblet of Fire parallels start taking precedence.  Still, as I reviewed the part of the story between the Hogwarts/ Parliament arrival and what I consider the turning points of both books (the Great Troll Knock-out, Chiswell's murder), I saw a few points of connection.  

Philosopher's Stone-Lethal White connections, Part 3: The adventure begins with nightmares, open-sky ceilings and lots of corridors.

This section picks up with Chapter 6 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, "The Journey from Platform 9 3/4," and Chapter 12 in Lethal White. In the last installment of this series, I reviewed the similarities between Harry's trip to Diagon Alley and Strike's visit to Pratt's. What struck me in this section is how similar Harry's first view of Hogwarts is to Robin's first visit to the House of Commons.

It starts with a bit of domestic tension for both our protagonists. The Dursleys, of course, are furious that Harry is going to Hogwarts; Matthew is equally angry that Robin is going undercover in Parliament, considering it tantamount to treason. Both Harry and Robin wind up isolating themselves in their bedrooms as they prepare, Robin by practicing her disguise and reviewing Chiswell family trivia with Strike, and Harry by perusing his books. Both approach the big day with a combination of excitement and nerves. Robin has two panic attacks on her first day; Harry also gets a little panicky, first when he can't find Platform 9 3/4; second when he is thinking he would have to do magic for the Sorting. And, just as Robin awoke with a nightmare on her first day at Parliament, Harry awoke with a nightmare on his first night at Hogwarts. 

Philosopher's Stone-Lethal White connections, Part 2: Moving forward, looking back and why Sam Barclay is Hedwig.

One challenge in working through Harry Potter and the Philosopher's  (or Sorcerer's) Stone and Lethal White for start-of-ring connections is trying to figure out where to divide the book sections.  For the first post, it was logical to do the opening chapters, but that 1-to-1 obviously cannot continue, given how much longer LW is than PS. Just taking a guess, I'm going to next look through the part of the story that occurs after the time-jump, but before the major adventure (Hogwarts/Robin's undercover mission) begins. For Harry, this is Chapters 2-5: the zoo trip with the vanishing glass, the letters from no one, the Dursley's flight to the Hut-on-the Rock, Hagrid's rescue of Harry on his 11th birthday and the subsequent trip to Diagon Alley to prepare him for Hogwarts. For Strike and Robin, this is Chapters 1-11: beginning  with Strike's hiring of Barclay and going through Billy's arrival at the office, Robin's ending of her therapy and move to the new house, Strike's visit to the CORE meeting, Robin's housewarming party, Robin's return to the office and the unexpected calls from Billy and Chiswell, Strike's lunch with Chiswell in Pratt's, followed by his meeting with Robin, overnight with Lorelei and his delivery of listening devices to Chiswell's London House. 

A Return to Blogging with a New Test of the Double Wedding Band Model: Looking for connections between Philosopher's Stone and Lethal White.

 Greetings to my readers and other Strike/Potter fans! I am back from the longest blogging break I've taken in a while. I am happy to announce that I return with the new title of Granny to CJ, the, in my unashamedly biased opinion, the most perfect and beautiful granddaughter ever born. Since I have chosen to keep her full name private, and respect her parents' wishes not to display her face on social media, you'll simply have to take my word for it that she is absolutely and completely adorable. 

During my break, I've been mulling over what to blog about as we continue to wait for Sleep Tight, Evangeline. I finally drew inspiration from:

• first, the new series of Three Broomsticks podcasts I've been doing: looking at connections between the Strike books and the corresponding Potter books, so starting with Philosopher's Stone and Cuckoo's Calling and
• second, the Double Wedding Band model for the Strike series, which hypothesizes that tha last seven books of the series will form a ring structure, much as the first seven did, and as the seven Harry Potter books did. See here, here and here for more information. 

As I have noted before, one of the strongest arguments in favor of DWB is the fact that it predicted connections between THM and Order of the Phoenix, of which there were many. This gives me hope that the final three books of the Strike series will connect to the final three Potter books both alchemically and thematically.

But, what of the earlier books of the putative second ring? That's what I have decided to explore for the next few months.

Finishing up Lethal White, Chapters 66-Epilogue: Chiswell House, the sequel; the Met, the barge and the truth.

Chapter 66:  Sam, Strike and Robin have only a few minutes to speculate about the fate of the poor departed horsie and how it died before Kinvara releases the hounds. Strike and Robin take off for Chiswell House in hopes of both heading off the dogs and talking their way out of trespassing charges. Once again, we see Robin's farm girl skills with animals.  It's a shame she couldn't just pick Rattenbury up by the scruff of his neck the way she did Tigger.

Do you ever wonder what became of the dogs after Kinvara went to jail?  I suppose if the Stubbs was real the family would have renovated Chiswell House and Fizzy, as the oldest daughter and mother of Pringle would have moved her family in. While Chiswell clearly favored his male heirs, he does not seem to have any sort of title that could only be passed to a son. I never heard anyone call him Sir Jasper and he undoubtedly would have insisted on that if it was applicable. 

For that matter, was Kinvara looking after all those horses single-handedly after she fired Teagan? 

Robin has recklessly jumped into so many dangerous situations since Lethal White that I forgot how scary her search of the upper floor was the first time I read it, and how foolish it was for her to attempt to investigate the noise alone, even armed with a bronze frog. Strike's leg must have been killing him or I think he would have berated her a lot more for venturing upstairs.

Lethal White, Chapters 57-65: Dinner with Raff, the breakdown on the verge, and the diggers in the dell.

Chapter 57:  While Strike is interviewing Billy, Robin is, with some trepidation, making plans for her post-Flobberworm existence, which, it seems, will involve living in some tiny rented room in a multi-person household. She is stubbornly refusing to seek help from or even tell anyone apart from Vanessa, who has proved herself a good sounding board and drinking buddy. While keeping the separation from Strike, she continues to work on the Chiswell case, and, when he calls her, is able to report that both Raff and Tegan had agreed to be interviewed. She is also alarmed when Strike suggests digging in the dell. 

Lethal White Chapters 51-56: From Flick's to Della's to Billy's, plus dumping the Flobberworm.

Both Robin and Barclay are remarkably adept at infiltrating leftist groups. It was impressive when Sam, in about six weeks, has become Jimmy's right-hand man, trusted not just to search Flick's apartment but to go to the hospital to see Billy. But "Bobbi Cunliffe" is so good that within 24 hours of meeting her, Flick is not only asking her to parties but inviting her to move in to her flat. By the end of the evening, Bobbi is walking out of the party with a photo of Jimmy's note in her pocket, while both Jimmy and Flick remark that she is the "real deal." 

Strike is at home dreaming about buying Chiswell House with Charlotte when Robin calls with news of her discovery. After dissecting the letter, and recognizing the Catullus quotation on it,  Strike sits down to go over the Chiswell file again, using his "People-places-things" methodology. He is struck by the unusual number of pairs among the people involved. He makes himself a lengthy to-do list. His thoughts go back to Charlotte right before he goes back to bed, but he drifts off thinking of a Catullus poem about throwing off long-established love; and his dream takes him back to Chiswell House, alone. 

Lethal White, Chapters 43-50: From Steda Cottage to Charlotte at Franco's

Chapter 43: Here Strike and Robin visit the Knight's old cottage and the associated dell. What I enjoy about this chapter is how Robin's farm girl upbringing comes through, with her knowledge about how to maneuver through thorns and nettles, to her making Strike a walking stick from a branch, to her ease in sliding down the bank to explore the dell and even her knowledge that dock leaves can be used to soothe nettle stings. Strike, despite his military training, is clearly not as comfortable in the outdoor environment as she is. 

Chapter 44:  I love this chapter, especially since I got to eat at the White Horse pub when I visited Uffington. The text description is spot on:

The country inn they reached five minutes later was the very image of picture-postcard England, a whited timbered building with leaded bay windows, moss-covered slate on the roof and climbing red roses around the door. A beer garden with parasols completed the picture. 

Lethal White Chapter 36-42: A return to the opening of Cuckoo's Calling, and the start of a new ring?

Love is good, love can be strong

We gotta get right back to where we started from.

                                                -Maxine Nightingale

After Chiswell's body was found, "Part Two" of the book begins. John Granger noticed at LW's publication that there was no "Part One" at the start of the book. At the time, it was widely assumed that Cormoran Strike would be a 7 book series, like Harry Potter, and that the "Part Two" did not just mean the second half of Book 4, but the turning point to the entire series. However, when the news came that Strike would be a 10-book series instead, that idea seemed less likely.  Instead, I have suggested, per the double wedding band model (see here and here) that this orphan "Part Two" instead marks the beginning of a second 7-part ring. Looking carefully at the first few chapters of Part Two gives me an even stronger sense of "resetting" the story in a way that strongly echoes the first few chapters of The Cuckoo's Calling. 

• Strike's face is bruised and battered, in CC from Charlotte's scratches and hurled ashtray, in LW from his fight with Jimmy Knight. 
• Though not nearly as broke as they were in CC, the agency is in a financially precarious situation, in part because of non-payment by a client. Robin reviews the accounts in Chapter 36 and says, "They'd look a lot healthier if Chiswell had paid his bill."  
• In Chapter 3 of CC, Strike is "chasing" multiple clients for payment and facing a lot of unpaid bills. 
• Strike has just walked away from Charlotte. In CC he left her at her posh flat; in LW he left her at the posh Lancaster House. 
• Robin has witnessed Charlotte leaving a building (the Denmark Street office in CC, Lancaster House in LW, and is wondering what is going on between her and Strike.
• Within a couple of chapters, a wealthy client (John Bristow, Izzy Chiswell) will provide some financial relief in the form of a nice fat check. 
• This client is the relative of a recently deceased famous person, whose death the police are inclined to think is suicide. 
• The client is, instead, convinced it is murder and wants Strike to prove it. 

The Hallmarked Man will be the first real test for predictive power of the Double Wedding Band model, which predicts that, in addition to having connections with the other even-numbered books of the series. as Book # 5 in Ring #2, it will have thematic connections to Book #5 of Ring #1, Troubled Blood. Also, if there are Harry Potter echoes in THM, I predict we will backtrack to Book #5 of that series, Order of the Phoenix.

Are there hints from pre-publication publicity that this will be the case?  Find out after the jump. Spoilers for Twitter Headers and THM cover blurb ahead. 

Lethal White Chapters 26-35: The hospital, the Yule Ball analog and Robin's first corpse

Chapter 26, where Strike keeps vigil by Jack's hospital bed, is a fan favorite. From Strike's "It's Uncle Cormoran, by the way" to his relief and joy at seeing Robin to the tears he sheds holding her hand to the accidental lip-kiss in the parking lot, there is a lot to love here. 

However, what jumped out at me this time was that Strike, who had groused about his co-workers' family obligations back in Chapter 22, is now ignoring "a dozen missed calls from Robin" and texting Lucy instead, even though he surely knows that Robin would not call repeatedly unless it was something urgent. This time, he is the one who has to put aside his work responsibilities and attend to family matters. And Robin ditches her own "family" event (the Flobberworm's stupid cricket match!) to attend with him. 

They cling to their dead a long time at Rosmersholm.

If you've ever listened to my guest appearance on The Strike and Ellacott files, you'll know this is the epigraph I selected as my favorite. Not only does it convey a central theme from Rosmersholm, it relates to Chapter 27 in multiple ways. The row Robin and Matthew have following her decision to skip his cricket match to support Strike at the hospital shows them clinging to a dead marriage. The Sun's conclusion that "Venetia" is the scandal involving Jasper Chiswell is them clinging to old news; assuming the minister is repeating his infidelity of years ago. But the true "Rosmersholm" counterpart is Chiswell House, and, when Izzy shows up weeping at the tea house, it leads into a bunch of Chiswell dirt beign spilled, from Izzy's resentment of her father's ingratitude and pretty much everything about her stepmother, to Raff's miserable childhood to the creepy Jack O'Kent and Chiswell's supposed insistence that O'Kent was haunting him. (This could be a lie Raff made up, to help the suicide seem more plausible). After her chat with Raff, Robin makes her last clandestine trip to Winn's office to collect the last bug. Once again, Aamir catches her, but this time a cover story about borrowing a fan gets her off. 

Lethal White: Chapters 15-25: Shall I compare thee to a summer's dog?

Chapter 15 is a brief glimpse of Venetia's second day undercover. Robin is  summoned to see Jasper Chiswell in his office, where the Minister is is usual cheerful self. He grouches that Robin hasn't planted the bug yet. Hey Jasper, if you are concerned about her getting the job done, having her walk several buildings over to you for a 30-second conversation before telling her to get back to work may not be the best idea. But, Robin gets to meet Della Winn and be mistaken for an old fencing friend of Freddie Chiswell's, who we will eventually learn is Verity Pulham.  Fun fact: Della suggests "going over the plans for the twelfth" on the ride to Greenwich. These are likely the plans for the Paralympic reception. 

Chapter 16 covers Strike's interview with Jimmy's ex, Dawn. Most of the information Strike gets about Jimmy turns out to be red herrings but she shares Strike's compassion for his brother Billy. The most important thing we learned is that Jimmy spoke of his father as a joiner, not an odd-jobs man, and had a real problem with how Jack O'Kent made his living. 

Lethal White Chapters 7-14: A grey dress, lunch with the minister, the start to Venetia's mission and Strike's evolving view of Lucy.

Chapter 7:  The Housewarming. I hate that Robin wore the grey dress that didn't flatter her to please the Flobberworm. As we recall, she also hated her wedding dress. Between wearing her hair the same way and a dress she doesn't like, she must be having some very bad memories. Plus Sarah Shadlock, ugh.  When Strike and Robin finally get married, I am willing to bet that Robin will ban all roses and all stargazer lilies from the decor.

On the other hand, part of me is happy that she saved the Green Dress for Strike.  But what kind of husband says, "I like you pale?" We are told back in early Cuckoo's Calling that Robin "did not much like her own milkmaid's colouring" and in CoE we learn that one of Matthew's nicknames for her, that he does not use much anymore was "Rosy-Posy" The fact that he now says he likes her pale is another indicator of how much the relationship has changed. 

Commencing Lethal White re-read: Prologue and Chapters 1-6: Swans, Skulls and Roses.

 

I've had several people ask me why Lethal White is my favorite of the Strike series to date.  I will admit I was pre-disposed to like this book when the pre-publication blurb announced the book would be set at the time of the London Olympics.  Picture it:  2014, shortly after the publication of The Silkworm. Robert Galbraith's true identity had been unmasked fairly recently. John Granger at Hogwartsprofessor.com was just floating the Parallel Series idea, based largely on the fact that a mysterious autobiographical book wreaked havoc in both The Silkworm and Chamber of Secrets. But, no one was really wanting to embrace that notion fully for fear of looking foolish. Recognizing that the first two books were set in 2010 and the third likely in 2011, I wrote in a blog post* that, if the Parallel Series Idea was workable model for  the Strike books, then it would make sense to set book 4 at the time of the 2012 London Olympics, to echo the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament.

Of course, as it turned out, not only were the Olympics a crucial setting, but LW turned out to be the volume that turned the Parallel Series Idea into a bona fide theory; one that could not only explain patterns seen in published books but have predictive power for future ones. Indeed, the Cliff Notes summary of both books could read:

During an international sporting event, a nasty-tempered government minister who has responsibility for pulling off a successful event is killed by his semi-estranged son, after getting the kid released from prison early, where he was serving a sentence for a serious crime. At the end, the killer holds a protagonist hostage in a locked room and threatens them, but is thwarted at the last second by a rescuer who crashes through the wooden door. 

See here for an archived post of mine showing how the Parallel Series idea related to Troubled Blood.  See here (p. 14) for Beatrice Grove's essay on connections between The Half-Blood Prince and The Ink Black Heart.  And here for Irvin Khaytman's. 

Spoiler alert:  There are a few references to the cover and publicity blurb that were released in the rest of the posts. If you are trying to avoid that content, you should not continue. 

Reading schedule for Pre-THM re-read of Lethal White

In keeping with my leapfrog predictions, I am re-reading all the even numbered Strike books in preparation for The Hallmarked Man.  I decided to make June Lethal White month,  then take a break from blogging in early July, then pick up with Troubled Blood* on July 21. 

Lethal White remains, to date, my favorite of the series, so I am excited about this read-through. I became even more excited after the release of the cover blurb on 5/28/2025, where we learn the client's name is Decima, the Roman counterpart to the Greek Fate Lachesis we met in LW. Between that and the swans that have turned up both in the neon sign store Twitter header and the Masonic temple room, it seems refamiliarizing ourselves with LW will enhance our enjoyment of THM. 

Here's the schedule: 

• Monday, June 2:  Prologue, Ch. 1-6
• Thursday, June 5: Ch. 7-14
• Monday, June 9:  Ch. 15-25
• Thursday, June 12: Ch. 26-35
• Monday, June 16:  Ch.  36-42
• Thursday, June 19: Ch. 43-50
• Monday, June 23: Ch 51-56
• Thursday, June 26: Ch. 57-65
• Monday, June 30: Ch. 66- Epilogue

Let's all saddle up those lovely albino steeds and gallop through this gold-medal volume. 

*Yes, I know this is not an even numbered book, but there is a reason I am including it in my pre-THM review,