Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At the heart of Robert Galbraith’s new Cormoran Strike/ Robin Ellacott mystery is the investigation of the coldest of cold cases: the 1974 disappearance of a doctor as she walked from her London practice to a bar where she was to meet an old friend for drinks. The case was never solved and the investigation was botched by two successive detectives; one of whom appears to have used astrology to rule suspects in or out.

Surrounding the year-long search for the killer of Dr. Margot Bamborough is a swirl of life-changing events in the lives of the two investigators. Strike is attempting to cope with the final illness of the woman who raised him when his mother abandoned him three decades earlier, even as his real-life father – an aging rock star who sired seven children, and whom Strike has met just twice in his life – is seeking to re-connect with his now-famous son. Robin is trying to finalize her divorce, only to find her husband is inexplicably and painfully dragging out the process. In the meantime, Robin has to continually rebuff the advances of one of the contract investigators with whom she works. And, as through the four previous installments in the series, there is the continuing series of missed or misinterpreted romantic signals between Strike and Robin (there may finally be some forward progress).

The search for Margot Bamborough is done at the behest of her daughter, who was a toddler when her mother disappeared. After four decades, many of the witnesses have died or disappeared. Moreover, even though there was never an official solution to the case, it was popularly assumed by the press and detectives she was abducted by a serial killer active in London at the time. The serial killer, though, never acknowledged Bamborough as one of his victims and he has long been incarcerated at a prison reserved for those who committed heinous crimes.

As Strike and Robin re-investigate the case, they find no dearth of motives or suspects. The small medical practice was riddled with intrigue and Bamborough’s marriage was rocky (her husband would eventually marry the nanny). One employee of the practice was involved with the son of a gangster infamous for making those who annoyed him disappear. And, hanging over all of Strike’s and Robin’s work is the serial killer who had granted no interviews since his conviction.

Troubled Blood tells a compelling story – and it had better be because the book clocks in at more than 900 pages. It is also sometimes hard for non-U.K. readers to comprehend because Galbraith (the pen name used by author J.K. Rowling for the series) faithfully replicates the various accents (Irish, Scottish, Cornish, Yorkshire, etc.) of those involved. In other words, you can’t skim this book; you actually have to read it. But, stick with it. It is worth the time. Don’t be wary if you’ve not read the previous books in the series. The story stands alone, and the author fills in the background needed to understand anything that ties back to earlier books.

Hanging over the book, though, is a controversy regarding Rowling. Though ‘Troubled Blood’ appears on the New York Times best seller list, that newspaper has yet to review the book and other periodicals have done perfunctory reviews that instead focus on Ms. Rowling’s perception by the LBGTQ community. The lightning rod in the book is the misogynist serial killer, who cross-dressed in order to give vulnerable women a false sense of security before killing them in horrific ways. On the other hand, the book does not lack for sympathetic gay characters. Margot Bamborough’s daughter, who hires Strike, is in a well-described, committed, monogamous relationship with a highly supportive woman; and Robin’s flat-mate is a fully-drawn and compassionate gay man whose actions and back story are anything but stereotypical.



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