The Silkworm, Chapters 18-24:

More Matthew-hating and the Anstis Brats.

Chapters 18-19 give us an echo to Chapter 10: a rw between Robin and the Flobberworm, followed by Robin arriving at the office the next day, still feeling the aftereffects and finding her job far more rewarding than her home life. We will see this pattern repeat itself multiple times, as Robin grows more and more into her true self, culminating with her finally leaving Matthew in Lethal White.

We see Matthew speaking with his habitually hypochondriac mother, and rolling his eyes at her complaints, completely unaware that perhaps for the only time, he should be taking her seriously. Being his usual hypocritical Flobberwormy self, he dare to be offended at Robin's caring more about the fact that her boss has just found a missing man murdered than the mother whose concerns he himself was dismissing; and a major fight erupts resulting in Robin, for first time (as far as we know) refusing to share a bed with him and refusing to back down, even to the extend of getting herself out of the flat the next morning, before he can renew contact with her.

While Robin may be feeling "a familiar frustration and anger towards the men in her life... Matthew for failing to see why her job mattered to her so much; Strike, for failing to recognize her potential" we see an early indicator that Strike and the job will ultimately win:

But he had called her when he had found the body... She had managed to slip in a question----"Who else have you told?"--- and he had answered, without any sign that he knew what it would mean to her. "No one only you."

Despite Robin's early start, Strike beats her to the office in the morning, with "a suspicion that he had not confided to Anstis driving him to finish the book as a matter of urgency." Apparently Strike is already convinced there is a clue to the murder in the book.

Robin arrives in time Monday morning to refill strike's tea and watch him finish the manuscript and discover the astounding way it foretold the circumstance of Quine's murder. They are just reviewing the list of potential suspects that this suggests when they are interrupted by Matthew'a calls, initially ignored by Robin but which turn out to be Matthew trying to reach Robin with news of his mom's sudden death. The Biggest Fight to Date is brought to a sudden stop, with no resolution, just a big distraction. I found myself wondering what would have happened if not for this conveniently timed death. Would a fight like this, that "quickly dragged out the fundamentals of their relationship for examination and retribution," a mere six weeks before the wedding, have been enough to make Robin reconsider the wisdom of marrying this guy? Sadly, we'll never know.

By Monday night, Strike is realizing how poorly euipped Anstis is to solve a crime this bizarre, and already wondering how he can help deflect suspicion from Leonora. He speaks to her by phone, and arranges to visit her on Tuesday morning, his birthday. After being doorstopped by journalists, who have learned he was the one who found the body, Strike makes his way to Ladbroke Grove, where his has his first encounter with Orlando and his second with a visiting Jerry Waldegrave, who is bearing flowers and card to the Widow Quine on behalf of Roper Chard. Interestingly, Waldegrave does not recognize Strike, despite the latter's very memorable appearance and name. This suggests Jerry was drunk enough at the party on Friday to have a memory blackout.

Once Waldegrave has departed, Strike learns more from Leonora and Orlando, the most important being Orlando's habit of stealing thing, and the tendency of things to appear and disappear in the vicinity of Cheeky Monkey. We also get the "Dannlchar touch me" red herring from Orlando and see a bit of Leonora's raw grief in her eruption over the purloined sympathy card.

Strike calls Robin to meet him at the Cambridge for lunch; she surprises him by turning up with a gift basket of Cornish foods for his birthday. It is interesting to see Strike's genuine appreciation for her thoughtfulness, in contrast to his irritation at everything about dinner at Lucy-and-Greg's, with the possible exception of Nick and Ilsa being invited. It is also interesting to see Robin's choice of gift on this first birthday they celebrated: something relative generic (food basket) but, by selecting one from Cornwall, she manages to make it just personal enough to be really impressive... and to make Strike feel a little guilty about missing hers. We learned back in Chapter 7 that Robin would have found flowers completely acceptable as a first-time birthday gift to an employee you have only known for six months or so. It would be interesting to know at what point she would insist on something a bit more individualized.

Trivia: The Cambridge is the pub right next door to the Palace Theatre, where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been playing since summer 2016. The play itself would have premiered the day after Strike rescued Robin from Chapman Farm in The Running Grave.

Strike and Robin do a bit of brainstorming on the case, and recognize that the Pippa2011 from Kath Kent's blog likely had early knowledge of the contents of Bombyx Mori. Unfortunately, what could have been a very pleasant afternoon for our heroes gets marred several factors, including a lot of interrupting phone calls. Dominic Culpepper calls demanding the inside scoop on the case and gets snippy when Strike refuses to compromise the police case. Nina Lascelles calls with interesting news about Daniel Chard breaking a leg and being furious at Jerry Waldegrave because the police have gotten a copy of Bombyx Mori. Which really makes you wonder: what if Anstis had not gotten it from Strike? Surely the police would have demanded a copy as part of their investigation--- was he expecting Jerry to refuse? Worst of all is the Flobberworm calling up and getting snippy with Robin because she dared to go to the pub with Strike on his birthday. Strike gets further reason to dislike Matthew--- and recognize the impediment he is to Robin working as his detective partner--- as he watches her redial and try to placate him. This likely triggers his unfortunate mention of "We really need to be thinking about taking someone else on" that upsets Robin, yet again.

Chapter 23 is a long chapter detailing what probably seemed to Strike like another very long dinner party with Antis, his charming wife Helly and their even more delightful children. I can actually feel a bit kindly towards Charlotte in her threats to brain one of the brats. But, speaking of Charlotte and child-killing, Helly's nosy questions and gossip about the upcoming Campbell-Ross wedding lead to Strike recalling her supposed pregnancy and miscarriage (or possible abortion?) of his baby.

Despite the distractions of the thoughts of Charlotte and the tantrumming kids, Strike manages to have a decent chat with Anstis about the details of the crime scene, including the murder weapon (iron-shaped doorstop), the nature of the acid (hydrochloric) and the time of death (very hard to tell given the acid and the missing guts). We also get a clue that should have prompted us to think about Liz Tassel's respiratory ailment: "Our people are wearing masks just so the fumes don't rip their throats out." Unfortunately, it is also clear that Anstis is leaning towards Leonora as the suspect, given her screaming at him on the night he ran off and her expertise at butchery.

Chapter 24 lets us know how much the Charlotte situation is eating at Strike, as he has a nightmare about her and his supposed baby in a Gothic cathedral. Upon waking, he realizes the wedding will be getting press coverage snd nips out to pick up the issue of the Tatler, for which his ex is the December cover girl. Looking though the article, Strike becomes even more convinced that the relationship and quick engagement to Ross was an intentional effort of Charlotte's to both hurt him and to prompt him to rescue her from this wedding to a powerful but abusive man. Coming straight off the re-read of The Ink Black Heart, the following line makes me throw up in my mouth a bit:

"I can't wait to be a step-mummy!" trills Charlotte.

To distract himself from calling up Charlotte and stopping the wedding, Strike decides that, despite his injured leg, this Wednesday would be spent tromping the streets and casing out crime scenes and suspect homes in the Quine case. Robin, still peeved about his suggestion of hiring a new detective, initially resists the idea, but eventually agrees to go play Watson to his Sherlock. Strike cancels the appointment with a paying client, Caroline Ingles (am I the only onetpicturing Little House on the Prairie's Ma as the unfortunate wife of the lap-dance aficionado?) and the pair set off into the winter weather.

Coming up next: Strike buys his own collapsible cane! Really!