I mentioned in my most recent Lethal White post that I was re-reading the first Cormoran Strike mystery, Cuckoo’s Calling, to see if there were Lethal White pointers and echoes I had missed. I promised to share those I had not already discussed in ‘Lethal White: Cuckoo’s Calling Retold?‘ or in ‘Lethal White: Add Seven Cuckoo Echoes.’ Before I list them, I am obliged to explain why the echoes and correspondence between Books 1 and 4 of the Cormoran Strike series are important.

Close reading of the first four books has revealed that they are written in parallel to and perhaps even as commentary on their equivalent number in the Harry Potter series, e.g., Lethal White features a ‘Minister of Culture’ who is murdered by his psychopathic son very reminiscent of the Bartimaeus Crouch storyline in Goblet of Fire (see ‘Does Lethal White echo Goblet of Fire?’ for much more on this).

This strongly suggests that the series is structured in the same way as the Hogwarts Saga, which is to say, as a seven-part ring cycle or composition (for that structure, see Harry Potter as Ring Composition and Ring Cycle). While we have been able to chart each book’s structure as they come out to see if they are rings (they are; see ‘Lethal White: The Ring Structure’ for the diagrams and explanations), we have had to wait for the fourth book in the series to see if, as with Philosopher’s Stone and Goblet of Fire, there were strong references and parallels between the first and middle books that will play out in the seventh. A proper ring has a story-turn which reflects the story origin and points to the finale,which pivot creates a story axis.

These parallels between Books 1 and 4, because they would confirm the ‘Series in Parallel’ theory, are especially interesting, too, because Rowling in person and her spokespeople have repeatedly denied that the Cormoran Strike books are a seven book series. As she repeatedly denied that she was writing murder mysteries before she was outed as ‘Robert Galbraith,’ however, makes her and allies in the game known perjurers and hence unreliable witnesses. We have to trust the texts.

Which brings us back to Cuckoo’s Calling, the series starting point, and the search for any pointers to or echoes in Lethal White. There are many more than those we have discussed here already in the posts mentioned above. “Many more” as in “more than twenty-five”! [Read more…]

I am re-reading Cuckoo’s Calling in light of Lethal White and I confess to being whelmed by the number and quality of the echoes to be found of the fourth book in the first book of the series. I’m tabulating them as I go and will have to look up all the corresponding passages in Lethal White, but I think, if a Book 1 to Book 4 correspondence suggests another appearance in Book 7, the finale and end of the story axis, we have a lot of clues to sort through for the series finish. Do you remember the tomoto-red haired women in Cuckoo’s Calling? Me, neither.

One of the connections I have on my curious-but-not-obviously-important list of story echoes is that both contain references to Robin as a personal assistant or PA. Strike tells her in Cuckoo’s Calling after her week as a Temporary Solution that he’d like to hire her as a secretary but she can do much better: “If I could afford a secretary… but I expect you’ll end up pulling down a serious salary as some fat cat’s PA” (Part 2, chapter 5, p 82). Jasper Chiswell, who certainly qualifies as a ‘fat cat,’ offers her that job in Lethal White:

Robin was almost at the door when Chiswell said abruptly:

“You don’t want a PA’s job, I suppose?”

“Sorry?”

“Take over from Izzy? What does that detective pay you? I could probably match it. I need someone with brains and a bit of backbone.”

“I’m happy where I am,” said Robin. (ch 25, p 221)

When Robin reports this to Strike later, he says, “I’m always surprised that doesn’t happen more often” (ch 26, p 234).

This is a faint echoing between the books, I know, but it is audible. Events of the last week, though, are to blame for me being sufficiently sensitive to anything involving PAs and J. K. Rowling to hear it. You may not have heard about it in the media blitz around the Crimes of Grindelwald premiere but Joanne Murray, Galbraith and Rowling’s real name, sued a former PA, Amanda Donaldson, whom she claims “wrongly benefited to a value of £23,696.32 [just over $30,000] by spending on a business credit card and taking Harry Potter merchandise.” Ms Donaldson had been Rowling’s PA from 2014-2017 and was fired for “gross misconduct involving a substantial alleged breach of trust.” Amanda Donaldson is mentioned first in Rowling’s non-alphabetical list of seven assistants in the Career of Evil acknowledgements “without whose hard work I would not have any time to do my own.” She denies Murray’s charges.

Three notes: [Read more…]