The Silkworm: 10-17:

From "It isn't the Mango Tree, but..." to "Oh yes, turns out he would go there..."

Dear readers: I've been derelict in my blogging for the last couple of weeks thanks to unusually high work demands and a nasty respiratory infection that knocked me out for a couple of weeks. But I'm back and planning double-length posts until I catch up. Fortunately, The Silkworm is the shortest of the Strike volumes I plan to re-read in anticipation of The Hallmarked Man. So hopefully, I'll be back on schedule soon.

Chapter 10 starts with Robin arriving at the office still suffering the after-effects of a massive row with the Flobberworm. Looking back on this argument in retrospect makes us think worse, if possible, of dear old Matt. First, he gets mad over Robin inviting Strike to the wedding when, as becomes clear later, his own boss Jemima will be invited. Second, he has a lot of nerve snorting when Robin brings up Sarah Shadlock and the hots she had for Matthew, given that Matthew did actually cheat with Sarah during the worst period in Robin's life. For me, the absence of Matthew is one major reason the later books are more fun to re-read than the earlier one.

We see another great example of Robin's initiative when she shows Strike Kathryn Kent's blog, which gives them "loads" of information about Kent's affair with Owen Quine, aka, "The Famous Writer," as well as a few messages from the hot-tempered Pippa. During this read-through, I was struck by the similarities between Kath Kent and Matthew, given that they are both "pretenders" of a sort, eager to impress others, and more impressed with themselves than most other people are. Kath, with her "Literary Life" blog, presents herself as a writer of fine fiction that the rest of the world (including the professional publishers) is too ignorant to appreciate. Similarly, Matthew, at the King's Arms, speaks of his professional expertise:

Every sentence was angled, like a mirror, to show himself in the best possible light: his cleverness, his quick thinking, his besting of slower, stupider yet more senior colleagues, his patronage of the dullards working for the firm he was auditing.

The truth is, from what we see of Kath's blog amateurishly-written blog, and the small sample of The Melina Saga we are given, Liz Tassel's assessment of her writing talent is pretty much on point. Honestly, I've seen Teen Titans fan fiction by 14-year-olds that was better. And, if we believe Tom Turpin's drunken rant in LW, Matthew is not the accountant he is cracked up to be, either. And I can't remember if his team actually wins any of the sporting events he plays in. I know they lost the charity cricket match.

It's interesting that Strike's reaction to the blog parallels his reaction to Twitter in TIBH: Why would anyone want to do this?

We see a fairly rare instance of Strike going undercover as a down-and-out hit man, which makes him late for the drinks date at the King's Arms. The Flobberworm has a rare instance of being right when he predicts that Strike will show up late to the wedding and disrupt the service. It is interesting to me that, by the next book, Strike seems to have largely given up wrking with these shady criminal enterprises. Other than the "Russian casino owner" who did some business with Digger Mallory in CoE, there aren't other unsavory characters (in a legal sense anyway) employing Strike in the future; he seems to have gone to a clientele of wealthy divorcees and legitimate businesses.

Chapters 11-13 take us through Strike's initial phone conversation with Nina Lascelles, then to his meet-up with her in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and then the Roper-Chard party. Trivia: While Strike was consuming miniature crabcakes and "champers," the Potterheads of the world were attending the premiere of the first Deathly Hallows movie. Does Harry Potter exist in the Strike world? I assume so, since Emma Watson is a magazine cover girl. Our first impression of Nina is that she is a nice enough young woman, albeit a bit high-strung and needy and clearly not someone Strike would ever choose to be with long-term.

We also see the first of several mixed signals between Robin and Strike, where he thinks she's getting snippy because he isn't wild about Matthew, when in reality it is his musings about bringing another detective into the business that is upsetting her most.

In the end, the most valuable things Strike takes away from the Roper-Chard party is a some of Owen Quine's history (particularly the story of the parody that triggered Elsbeth Fancourt's suicide) and the stolen copy of Bombyx Mori. Interesting that Nina shows no hesitation about using her keycard to steal it--- don't most keycard systems make a record of whose card was used? Strike shows remarkable insight in his anticipation, even before Strike knows Quine is dead, that the manuscript could be a clue to the mystery. And, of course, on re-reading, we can't help but be struck by this:

"Is Larry Pinkelman here?"..

"Oh, no, he hates parties...

"I thought you were throwing him one?"

"How did you know that?"

"You just told me so, in the pub."

"Wow, you really pay attention, don't you? Yeah, we're doing a dinner for the reprint of his Christmas stories, but it'll be very small. He hates crowds, Larry, he's really shy."

Little does she suspect how eventful that party will turn out to be. Poor old Pinks. I wonder if Michael Fancourt managed to keep the peace, make an excuse for Liz not feeling well when she rushes out of the club and go on with the celebration? Or, did he blurt out the whole story at the dinner table and really make the event unforgettable?

Pinks (peering myoptically through thick glasses): "Where is Liz going in such a hurry?"

Fancourt (clearing throat and straightening tie): "Well, it's a long story, but, uh, turns out she disemboweled Owen Quine and is probably heading off to commit suicide..."

One final note on a possible, though obscure 2-6 book link. Roper Chard's logo is described as a knotted rope between the two names. The Ink Black Heart will give us an important clue in the form of a charred rope knot that Robin finds in the woods at the site of the makeshift pigpen.

Chapters 14 and 15 give us a bit of a comic diversion before the action picks up. First, we have Strike's football game disrupted both by the unexpected loss of his favorite team and the totally gross reading that is Bombyx Mori, which he can't help but connect in his mind. Then, it's off to Lucy's birthday dinner and the disastrous attempted set-up with "poor Marguerite." Some of Galbraith's funniest writing occurs here, with lines like "compensation for not getting to take Strike home, and marry him, and live two streets over with a shiny new coffee maker from Lucy-and-Greg." It is interesting that Marguerite's unflattering dress is described as "shiny" and "purple." This made me think of Madeline's dress in TIBH, where she wore purple at her jewelry launch and shiny silver at her attack on Strike on Denmark Street; both scenes that highlighted her emotional instability.

We see Jack's special attachment to Uncle Cormoran and get a mention of the medal that must have great significance for the family, given that the 7 year old knows enough about it to put it on the homemade birthday card. I continue to hold out hope that one of the 2-8 connections will be another mention of the medal, and the circumstances under which it was awarded. We've never seen it in Strike's apartment; I'm willing to bet it is on display at Ted and Joan's and Strike will retrieve it when cleaning out their house to sell.

Chapter 16 takes us from a mere investigation to a genuine mystery as Strike, anxious to get his mind off Charlotte on her birthday, leaves Nina's to head directly first to Leonora's, then to Talgarth Road, where he makes the gruesome discovery of Quine's acid-washed corpse. In the interim, he manages to knacker his knee during his first of three knife attacks by Pippa Midgley. Another 2-6 connection: Book 2 gives us transwoman Pippa Midgley; in book 6 we get an apparently rather butch--she wears a tuxedo on New Year's Eve-- lesbian named Midge.

An interesting observation I made about the crime scene this time. The book does a good job of accounting for how Liz Tassel got all her materials into the house: the burka ropes and coveralls were delivered during the construction work, for instance. Except, we never find out when the plates and silverware arrived. Seven place settings is not a small parcel. Are we to assume a burka-clad woman slipped unseen into the house sometime over the last six months, toting a holdall with Liz's granny's china and silver? I hope she had the good sense not to use the sterling.

We spend Chapter 17 at Scotland Yard with Strike, Anstis and the bottle of whiskey. This is our first meeting with Strike's old army friend; we understand immediately both why he is so attached to Strike, to the extent of giving his son the middle name of "Cormoran," and why Strike finds the level of attachment a bit annoying. He is hardly one who wants or needs "Uncle Dickie" looking out for him. Compared to the genuine pleasure Strike showed at seeing Nick and Ilsa at his birthday dinner, his politeness to Antis seems forced to say the least.

Coming up next: the late, unlamented Mrs. Cunliffe, and dinner with Helly.