Beginning the Pre-THM re-read of Troubled Blood:

Chapters 1-8

I am back from a wonderful trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru, where I got to view amazing wildlife, scenery and ancient temples. Now back to my final re-read, Troubled Blood. But. if you are a follower of Twitter Headers and want a real treat, check out this essay on the Strike and Ellacott files blog.

This book, often considered the best-written of the series, is the only one save Lethal White (whose prologue completed the cliffhanger at Robin's Masham wedding) in which both our heroes start out outside of London. I must say, I always feel a bit guilty when I start this book, since going to Masham to meet Ted and Joan in person had been one of my top wishes. I didn't mean for Joan's cancer to be the impetus, though.

It is also interesting to learn more about Dave Polworth here, who so far we have met only as a shark-bitten, daredevil diver who dislikes the Met and London "on principle." We learn here that his principles are informed by a strong sense of Cornish nationalism. We also get the delightful incongruity of this rough man of the sea quoting Anna Karenina when advising Strike about his love life.

One interesting note-- and I mean that literally. Strike remembers back to Polworth befriending him when he started school at age 4 1/2, the first time Leda dumped her kids with Ted and Joan.

Precisely what Leda had said in the note she had left on the kitchen table, Strike had never known.

Given that the responsibility for clearing out Ted's home to sell will likely fall to Strike and Lucy, it would not shock me for one of them to find the note during the clear-out. I could see Joan, and particularly ex-Red Cap Ted saving it as evidence in a potential custody suit. Note also here that Lucy is referred to as a newborn when Strike is 4; this was corrected to 2 years old in later editions.

After his chat with Polworth, Strike heads outside for a smoke, a look at a swimming seal and three drunk youths in a boat (see here for the St. Mawes connection to both thesse elements) and, eventually, the initial encounter with Anna Phipps and Kim Sullivan, and the introduction to Margot Bamborough's cold case. Meanwhile, a few hours away, Robin has proved her reliability and skill by tailing Tufty to his first family and proving he's a bigamist. They agree to meet together with Anna and Kim in Falmouth and then drive back to London together. She's also being stressed out by exes: both the Flobberworm who is deliberately making the divorce difficult and by Charlotte Campbell, who has called the office with a mysterious message for Strike, claiming she "has something he wants." Given that Charlotte is dead, we'll probably never learn what this "something" is--though, knowing Charlotte, it was probably nothing-- but it is possible something could come up when Amelia is sorting through Charlotte's effects. One possibility is another lost note, the card Rokeby sent to Strike in Selly Oak that Strike told Charlotte to bin.

Chapter 4 picks up the next morning where we see Strike, despite not have accepted the Bamborough case yet, nonetheless orders a copy of The Demon of Paradise Park. In the garden in the early morning, he reminisces more about Leda and his childhood, then argues with Lucy about his preferential treatment of Jack. Judging from Luke's behavior, here and later in the book, Strike's characterization of him appears to be on the money, so I assume his assessment of Adam is, too. There was really no need to say it to Lucy, though. Their row here makes me that much more grateful for the meeting of minds they had in The Running Grave. It is also interesting that the boys call Joan "Granny" but Ted "Uncle."

In any case, Strike seems relieved to escape the home and the chaos of Lucy's family abn departs on the St. Mawes Ferry to Falmouth. In Chapter 5, we join Robin in her rundown B & B. Strike and Robin then meet up at a cafe in Falmouth, where we discover Strike is not having a great day. First, he fell and hurt his leg on the ferry; second, they are seated next to a family with more annoying kids than Lucy.

Things settle considerably in Chapter 6, when Strike and Robin visit Anna and Kim, and get the story of Anna's childhood and the upheaval it went through when she learned the truth about her mother. I was struck by this section upon re-reading:

"My partner, Robin Ellacott," Strike explained.

"Oh," said Kim, looking displeased. "You do realize--- this is only supposed to be an exploratory meeting."

"Robin happened to be just up the coast on another case, so--"

"I'm more than happy to wait in the car, " said Robin politely. "if Anna would rather speak to Cormoran alone."

Contrast this to the Robin of The Silkworm, who was insulted and pouty after being asked to sit out an interview st Daniel Chard's. This definitely shows her improved security in her position, and her self-confidence in her detective role, since she is not offended by this potential slight. It is also gratifying to see that Anna has read about Robin in the papers, too. We meet Cagney and Lacey the ragdoll cats, the former of whom takes an immediate shine to Strike. Strike's honesty about the low odds of solving the case impresses Anna, and particularly Kim. Contrast this to the Strike that promised Leonora Quine he'd get her out of prison, and Billy Knight that he would find out the truth about the strangled child. I guess the difference is that Strike was not actually expecting money from either of them.

We see one major link to Order of the Phoenix here, when Anna describes the medium "going into a trance" and setting the story in motion through her prophecy. As longtime readers know, my Double Wedding Band hypothesis predicts that, if there are any Harry Potter echoes in The Hallmarked Man, OotP is the most likely choice, given that THM, like TB, is a #5 book in its ring. I think the outlook for confirmation is good, since we already know one key connection: both stories center around a "secret society" --- the Freemasons and the Order.

FYI, if you are disturbed by the thought of Roy and Cynthia's third-cousin marriage, you need not be. Reasearch has shown that third-cousin marriages carry no significant genetic risk and may actually be advantageous to procreation.

Chapter 7, as our heroes journey home, is basically a way of catching up with everything that has happened to the agency in the year since Lethal White ended. They've acquired a new office manager, Pat Chauncey (Yaaaaaaaaaay!) and a new subcontractor, Saul Morris (Booooooooooo!). They also review the current cases: Tufty (which Robin has just wrapped up), Two-Times (back for at least the fourth time by now), Twinkletoes, Postcard and Shifty. Robin manages to put Strike to sleep for three hours by talking about social identity theory, which is enough time for Anna and Kim to review the contract and decide to hire Strike and Robin for a year-long search. Thus ends Part One.

Part Two picks up with Strike and Robin breaking the news of her husband's bigamy to Mrs. Tufty. They stop her from smashing Tufty's car and advise her to lawyer up quickly. We can connect this case to Margot's with Robin's "People don't expect to find themselves in these types of situations." Strike makes another supportive visit to Ted and Joan, happily without Lucy's family this time. Then, they get their first real break in the Bamborough canse when George Layborn (who we met in Lethal White) comes through with an offer to help find the old police file. Gerge is also able to share some information about the original investigation that he learned from his father, who worked on the case. Strike begins reading The Demon of Paradise Park for insights into Dennis Creed's life and character. Notably, he reads an interview with Creed's mother.

While Galbraith has claimed Dennis Creed was inspired by two real-life serial killers, Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams), there are also multiple similarities with perhaps the US's most famus serial killer, Ted Bundy, many of which turn up with a look at Bundy's childhood. Notably:

• Creed was fathered by his mother's stepfather; Bundy is widely believed to have been the result his grandfather's sexual abuse of his mother.

• Creed was abandoned by his mother and raised by his grandmother and step-grandfather; Bundy spent his early years believing his mother was his sister and his grandparents his parents. Both grandfathers had violent tempers and were abusive.

• Both Creed and Bundy began engaging in voyeurism at young ages, peeking into people's houses to watch women undress (though this is a common behavior of serial killers).

• Both Creed and Bundy studied psychology.

• Both had at least one woman survive an attack but be left with permanent brain damage.

• Both are described as "textbook" psychopaths.

• Both decapitated victims and kept body parts as souvenirs.

• Both kept some victims alive for a period of time before killing them.

• Both had a trademark vehicle: Creed's white van, Bundy's brown VW Beetle.

Strike's review of Creed's biography is interrupted by a call from one of the series' other psychopaths, Charlotte Campbell Ross.