As John has pointed out, there are expected Book 1- Book 5 parallels in the Harry Potter series. As such, we went looking for connections between The Cuckoo’s Calling and Troubled Blood. But, with 5-6 flip, we ought to expect some connections between CC and The Ink Black Heart as well as between IBH and CoE, Do we find them?
A few I can think of:
- The murder victim is a female former foster child who earned a large amount of money at a young age (Lula through her modeling career, Edie through the cartoon). Both were on the verge of signing a lucrative new contract when they died.
- Both murder victims had money-grubbing uncles who wanted little to do with their niece until the niece got rich.
- Both murder victims had druggie boyfriends with whom they had recently broken up (Evan Duffield, Josh Blay).
- The murderer had responsibilities for a seriously ill parent.
- A child-related conflict destroys Strike’s love for Charlotte (anger over the lies about her alleged pregnancy (or abortion or miscarriage?) in CC; unwillingness to protect the twins from Jago in IBH.)
- A victim’s missing cell phone is an important clue to the case.
What others can our readers come up with?
7. A victim was pushed. (Rochelle was pushed from a bridge and Oliver Peach was pushed off the station platform.)
8. Cormoran gets wounded by the murderer and Robin staunches the bleeding with clothing.
9. Change in business relationship at the end of the story. (Robin’s permanent employment in CC and “Strike and Ellacott Detective Agency” in the door in IBH)
10. “no near-miss” Strike missed a kiss in IBH but Robin did not miss getting knocked off her feet by “16 unseeing stone of disheveled male” and the way he saved her was by grabbing the very thing he tried so hard not to look at for the next 5 years.
11. the “conjuring trick” Strike referred to in IBH happened when Robin offered coffee to Strike and Bristow: “Robin laid out 2 cups, a milk jug, a sugar bowl and a plate of chocolate biscuits, none of which Strike had ever seen before..”
12. Strike passed Robin a note with instructions to google Lula Landry to find out who adopted her and to write out her answers without talking to anyone. This reminded me of their Gateshead code in IBH, but also at Annabel’s Strike couldn’t initially remember Valentine’s name.
Sorry, I messed up that last. Strike not remembering Valentine’s name is like him calling Robin “Sandra” which coincidentally is my name which made it, for me anyway, even more ludicrous.
https://lithub.com/not-just-a-german-word-a-brief-history-of-schadenfreude/
I’m sharing an article about Schadenfreude, which appears in the prologue of CC. At first I thought it paralleled Scheherazade, who Strike mentioned in the prologue of IBH, 2 German words with interesting histories. But the article cites a psychological study in which it was shown that people smile more at the failure of others than they do their own success. So now I’m wondering if a better parallel is Robin exclaiming “we’re a success!”