J. K. Rowling has changed her Twitter header, but this time it’s unlikely to be Strike-Ellacott related. Of course the -5 deg C (25F) overnight temperatures in Edinburgh, may just be reminding her of her Summer holiday, aboard her yacht, but Greenland has been in the news recently for other reasons.
Hours after his son Donald Trump Jr touched down in the capital, Nuuk, on Tuesday, the US president-elect, Donald Trump, held a press conference, where he refused to rule out using military force to make Greenland part of the US, and threatened to impose “very high” tariffs on Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory, if it gets in his way.
The Kremlin is closely following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s claim to Greenland, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. Whether this is with an aim to contain the US’ ambition, or as inspiration for their own is not yet clear.
Fans are now able to pre-order The Hallmarked Man, 
My personal record for a late pre-order is N. A. M. Rodger’s The Price of Victory, volume three of his A Naval History of Britain. First available for pre-order in 2013 (volume two was published in 2006), delivery was made in October 2024. In this case, due to Dr. Rodger’s illness, publication was delayed for more than a decade. Achieving almost mythical status among fans of his work, the delivered book was well worth the wait.
Episode 4 opens quite literally with a bang… Sarah, not knowing what was coming, was literally shocked. “You can’t go in there. Half the ceiling has come down” said Strike. A further crash. “There goes the rest of it” says the stalwart, but shaken Pat.
The Jago Ross subplot is progressed this time by Robin rather than Midge rushing to his daughter rescue and judo throwing the ghastly Ross to get away.
Adaptations necessarily leave out much of our best loved dialogue. When my favourite line from the book was used, I had to fight the urge to rewind and play it again. Robin and Cormoran are having their final interview with Vernon Dursley… sorry.. Grant Ledwell. “Might need a bit of good cop / bad cop.” said Strike. “How bad do you want me to be?” Robin replied.
From a book reader’s point of view, this season delivered in spades with the pacing and character introductions improving as the series progressed. This must have been the most challenging of the series so far, and could easily have descended into a confusing mess. The story climax was tense and exciting, but the clue progression did not make Sarah feel cheated that the villain was only briefly seen in episode 1. We both agree that the acting, particularly from Tom and Holliday was first rate, with the closing scenes moving both of us very much.
Episode 3 opens with Barclay alive, hooray! and ambushing the ambusher. The vile Phillip Ormond is in custody geting his just deserts meanwhile Anomie is inviting all to Comic-Con. When asked to look for costumes Pat, who plays brilliantly asks – “Are we doing Kids parties now?”
Vernon Dursley… sorry… Grant Ledwell is interviewed in Denmark Street and makes the key mistake, moving from singular to plural when talking of the letters buried with Edie. Sarah, who has not read the books, picked up on this immediately, proving her far better at solving detective fiction than I will ever be!
Tom Burke is satisfyingly comic in his Darth Vader outfit, and fandom leader Yasmin Weatherhead is very recognisable both from the book and heady days of Potter-mania. Episode three ends with the death of Vikas. A lot has happened in less than an hour, but with clever pacing, this never seems confusing and there is a definite feeling that progress is being made. Join me tomorrow for the conclusion!
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