The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym), J.K. Rowling

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. Out of no where his luck suddenly changes: Firstly Robin walks into his life, and thus begins a long and memorable - platonic relationship in which she becomes his secretary / side kick and then his partner in business. Secondly the pair take on an investigation into the supposed suicide of the Super model Lula Landry. An investigation which seemingly impossible promises to turn around Cormoran's fortune and make him popular in more ways than one.

The first of three novels (so far) written by JK Rowling under the guise of Robert Galbraith these Cormoran Strike novels are a dream to read. They are exciting from the word go and can only be compared to Agatha Christie and her crime mystery novels. From the very start of each of the 3 Strike novels the reader is drawn in; you are introduced to the scenario and given almost all the information needed to solve the murder, remarkably it is not till the very end that the mystery is actually solved. 

From the very moment I picked up Cuckoo's calling I found that I could not put it down - I was riveted. Less than a year later 'The Silk Worm' came out, a continuation from where the Cuckoo's calling left off this novel begins when a novelist Owen Quine goes missing; his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike and Robin investigate, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. And what of the manuscript Quine has just completed which is more of a poison pen portrait of the literary community than a fictional novel. 

'Career of Evil' the third novel, written again shortly after Rowling's previous novel and a continuation of the same story line is by far the best. It builds on Cormoran's and Robin's past lives and explains why they are as they are; unearthing a man and woman who are seemingly at the crossroads of their emotional and professional lives.
As with the previous two novels in this series Career of Evil hits the ground running when an unusual package containing a severed leg is delivered to Robin. Some what unsurprised by the delivery Cormoran suspects four shady characters from his past for this event and sets about investigating their whereabouts and what they are up to now; thus starts the twists and turns of this novel which had me on the very edge of my seat till the very end.


I honestly can't wait for JK Rowling - Robert Galbraith to publish the next novel in this series.
There has been talk that 'Cuckoo's Calling' is to be made into a BBC crime series, I haven't seen or read anything to confirm or discredit this, that said I for one won't be watching it. A lover of the Harry Potter novels I by far preferred the novels to the films, there is something about imagining the main characters and what they are like when reading a book that just can't be captured on big screen or small.