Like the turning lid that finds its thread, a multitude of disconnected facts revolved in Strike's mind and slid suddenly into place, incontrovertibly correct, unassailably right. He turned his theory around and around: it was perfect, snug and solid.
---Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm (Mulholland Books, 2014)
The Silkworm is the second of Galbraith's books about private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. There is much I like about this book, especially its detail about London: everything about food, the tube, the weather, the publishing industry that is at the center of the murder mystery, as well as the complex histories, personalities and relationship of Cormoran and Robin. Galbraith (a nom de plume for J.K, Rowling) writes well and has a good ear for London conversation, including slang and accents, that take up a good part of the novel. The Silkworm is well plotted as Robin and Cormoran go about their low-budget investigation but Galbraith has Strike figure out who the murderer is long before we are told his thought process and the result. This kind of phony suspense I find unfair to the reader, though it is unfortunately too common in genre fiction and undercuts the effective portrayal of characters and their milieu.
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