Book review: The Cuckoo's Calling

J K Rowling's second post-Potter novel, and the first in a new series, has of course been most famous for the fact that it was published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, a disguise that was uncovered a lot earlier than she'd hoped - although she's going to continue writing the series under the Galbraith name as originally intended. But The Cuckoo's Calling also turns out to be a good murder thriller in itself. Having got used to using exotic character names her new protagonist is the son of a rock star and a hippie groupie, which leaves him with the unusual name Cormoran Strike. It's a provenance that's inconvenient for who he now is, a former military policeman who lost a leg in Afghanistan and is now a private detective, but finds it hard to blend into the background when people find out about his famous dad.

Hints that this is written by the most famous living author continue to the plot of The Cuckoo's Calling, which extends the celebrity theme with the supposed suicide of a supermodel. The murder mystery part is well plotted and there's a shady group of characters to fill the pool of suspects, plus an obligatory plucky assistant for Strike in Robin, a temp secretary he's hired, sort of accidentally, and can't really afford. And knowing who the real writer is makes it fun to see if there's any clues to her identity - Strike seems to have a different nickname with everyone who knows him, which is apt for a pseudonymously-authored story; and I liked him confronting the killer with the truth, only to be told it was so fanciful the detective should take up writing fantasy fiction instead.