The story is artful in it’s simplicity. Model dies after hurtling from a balcony, did she fall or was she pushed? Add a complex cast of starry, shallow, money hungry, a-moral characters and you have a great yarn ahead of you. The main reason it’s so compelling is the man himself, Cormoran Strike. It’s hard to create a detective without being cliched, and somehow JK has done it. Who knew a one legged army vet with a penchant for beautiful, psychotic women would be so interesting to read about. I also love Robin, who manages in this book to be wide eyed and eager without going full Enid Blyton. Stellar as always. I recommend it to everyone. – Amazon Review
The Cuckoo’s Calling
(Cormoran Strike Book 1)
Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling’s brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel’s suicide in “one of the best books of the year” (USA Today).
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry — known to her friends as the Cuckoo — famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you’ve never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you’ve never seen them under an investigation like this.
Fast-paced and sharply drawn, this dazzling detective novel inspired Strike, the BBC crime drama series that has captivated millions of viewers worldwide.}]