The last day of posting in a week of reviewing the first two Parts of Troubled Blood, chapters 1 to 14!

Today, I want to talk about the Walk from the Clerkenwell Clinic to the Three King’s Pub and then the finale of Cormoran’s first review of what he found in the Metropolitan Police cold-case file, the discovery of a secret message in code. It’s a strong finish to the introductory data dumps and foreshadowing in Rowling’s longest novel to date and it has some fun echoing of previous Strike mysteries for the die-hard fan to savor.

We’ll start with the long walk in chapter 13 from Margot Bamborough’s point of origin on 29 Clerkenwell Street to her supposed destination-never-reached, the Three King’s Pub.

Discussion Question/Challenge for Repeat Readers of Troubled Blood, Chapter 13: Robin and Cormoran walk about the Clerkenwell crime scene, a mirror of what previous scene in the Strike series?

— Hogwarts Professor (@HogwartsProf) July 30, 2022

Join me after the jump for the answer to that ‘Name The Chapter!’ challenge and a thought about the embedded clue to the mystery of both books hidden in the Walk! [Read more…]

Home stretch for Troubled Blood, Part 2, chapters 8 to 14! Today we take a closer look at the very brief chapter 11, in which Strike is hit with a combination punch via text messages, and the more substantial chapter 12, Robin’s birthday reflections and trip to Selfridge’s to shop for a new signature scent.

Discussion Question/Challenge for Repeat Readers of Troubled Blood, Chapter 11: What makes this very short chapter the pivot or turn of Part 2?

— Hogwarts Professor (@HogwartsProf) July 28, 2022

In the discussion of chapter 9 yesterday I shared the question-and-answer relationship of Parts 2 and 6 in Troubled Blood. The short course is that the second Part spells out all the questions that have to be answered and introduces all the critical characters that must be interviewed for the story resolution in the sixth Part to be satisfactory. I mentioned briefly, too, in the super-challenging chapter 8 review, that Part 2 is a seven piece ring that has chapter 11 as its turn. Which it is! Join me for that and a little more after the jump. [Read more…]

After yesterday’s jump from the end of Troubled Blood’s Part 1 to Part 2, today we’re all in to the second Part’s foundation of the character story arc for both Robin and Cormoran. In chapter 9, Robin wakes up on her 29th birthday, reads about Creed’s 29th birthday, and, after an exchange with Strike, fumes that he has forgotten her birthday again. Strike interviews Dr. Gupta, Gandhi look-alike, in chapter 10. Both chapters are brilliant set-ups for their parallels in Part 6 and the denouement celebration of Robin’s birthday in the novel’s finale. On to the tweeted challenge-questions and my thoughts below!

Discussion Question/Challenge for Repeat Readers of Troubled Blood, Chapter Nine: It's Robin's Birthday, a Libra turning 29. How does this chapter set the astrological baseline for her transformation in Strike5?

— Hogwarts Professor (@HogwartsProf) July 27, 2022

The events of chapter 9 in sequence are, first, Robin’s morning reflections as she wakes up on her birthday, reflections that data dump all the reader needs to know about the status of her divorce case, her worries about being forever single and married to the job, and her new apartment and flat-mate Max. She showers, opens her presents, and travels to work reading The Demon of Paradise Park to cheer herself up. She receives two texts along the way. Mom sends a gift certificate or mad money to spend at Selfridge’s. Strike invites her to his interview with Gupta, an invitation she declines. She is more than a little disappointed that her partner makes no mention of her birthday.

Rowling here establishes Robin’s baseline for all that is to follow in her Troubled Blood dissolution and re-integration, all of it “astrologically correct.” [Read more…]

Today’s chapter pairings include the end of Troubled Blood Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2. Each is something of an information dump, with chapter 7 catching us up on the slate of cases the Strike Agency is working as well as new hires like Pat and Saul and chapter 8 featuring a meeting with Layborn at the Feathers to talk about getting the Bamborough cold-case file and a reading from The Demon of Paradise Park. Amongst all the set-up and background data, however, Rowling drops important markers about what the story to come is about, which will be the focus of today’s tweet-question-and-post-answer. Enjoy!

Discussion Question/Challenge for Repeat Readers of Troubled Blood, Chapter Seven: What is the biggest clue given in the trip back to London about the mystery of 'Who Killed Margot Bamborough?'?

— Hogwarts Professor (@HogwartsProf) July 26, 2022

We’ll start with the necessary structural note here before attempting an answer to today’s tweeted challenge. [Read more…]

Onward and upward in my brief exegesis of each chapter of Troubled Blood! Today, chapters five and six, Robin meets with Strike briefly at The Moor in Falmouth and they have their first meeting together with Anna Phipps and Kim Sullivan (with Cagney and Lacey) to talk about the Margot Bamborough case.

Discussion Question/Challenge for Repeat Readers of Troubled Blood, Chapter Five: Why does this three and half page chapter that contributes little if anything to the novel exist? What purpose does it serve?

— Hogwarts Professor (@HogwartsProf) July 25, 2022

Of the more than seventy chapters in Troubled Blood, chapter five is the shortest, one that barely advances the plot, and one I have to think editors eager to demonstrate their mettle would urge cutting out entirely. It serves several functions, however, that are notable. [Read more…]