By any name, Silkworm spins a fine tale
Second in series fulfils promise of first novel
The Silkworm, the second novel in the Cormoran Strike series from British writer Robert Galbraith, marks not the start of a promising new mystery series but something more significant: the fulfilment of the promise of the first novel. It does so by building on the foundation set by The Cuckoo’s Calling and creating something even more powerful, even more rewarding.
(When the news broke a year ago that debut mystery novelist Robert Galbraith was actually a pseudo- nym for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Galbraith’s novel The Cuckoo’s Calling rocketed to the top of the best-seller lists and the media were inundated with news of Rowling’s return. Although it is inevitable that the publication of The Silkworm will see another raft of “J.K. Rowling writes a mystery” stories, that story has pretty much run its course. Which allows us, now, to treat the novel as it should be treated: a mystery, by a British writer.)
The Silkworm begins eight months after the events of The Cuckoo’s Calling. Strike, the former military investigator, is riding high on the success of that highprofile case. A steady stream of new clients has pulled him from his previous financial precariousness, and he’s starting to pull his life together after the disintegration of his longtime romantic relationship with Charlotte. He can actually afford to pay Robin, his secretary cum assistant.
In a fit of self-righteousness, though, he ignores his financially prudent course and takes on a case for Leonora Quine, who wants Strike to find her husband, the writer Owen Quine. It seems like a simple matter: Leonora thinks Quine — prone to attention-seeking disappearances — has gone to a writer’s retreat and is avoiding her.
The truth, though, is altogether more complicated, and Strike and Robin are drawn into a world more confusing and terrifying than any they have previously encountered: publishing.
Quine, it seems, has dropped a bombshell into this world, a disturbing, obscene manuscript en- titled Bombyx Mori, which combines a surreal picaresque adventure (à la The Pilgrim’s Progress) with the Grand Guignol horrors of Jacobean drama. Worse, every character in the book seems based on someone of Quine’s acquaintance. It’s certainly motive enough for murder.
As a stand-alone mystery, The Silkworm more than satisfies. As an entry in a series, though, the novel has to do more than that, and it is in the personal material that Galbraith really shines, and demonstrates the potential longevity of these characters and these books (seven titles are planned in the Cormoran Strike series).
The Silkworm Robert Galbraith Little, Brown & Co.