The Cuckoo's Calling

By: Robert Galbraith

Narrated by: Robert Glenister

Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling’s brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel's suicide in “one of the best books of the year” (USA Today).

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, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

Fast-paced and sharply drawn, this dazzling detective novel inspired Strike, the BBC crime drama series that has captivated millions of viewers worldwide.

©2013 Robert Galbraith (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Outstanding Narration of a Great New Series!

I went with this for 2 reasons. 1. I was looking for a new mystery series to become addicted to after I had burned through all of the Shardlake Mysteries and had not found anything that stuck, other than The Letitia Rod Mysteries. 2. I read the reviews of this book and had high hopes. I was not disappointed. The narrator was remarkable, inhabiting all characters, male and female, old and young, and all classes of British spoken English. The characters and scenes were vivid, stitched together smoothly and so I can recommend this book without hesitation. Will be starting on the second book right away!

Great Character Development

The combination of the character development and the twist on the standard mystery format is refreshing!

WONDERFUL DEBUT MYSTERY

I love Cormoran Strike! This promises to be a great series. I'm moving on to the next in the series and hope it's as good as this one!

amazing 👏

an excellent thriller. a mix between Monk the TV show and The Black Dahlia. couldn't put it down!

Referred by a very good friend.

You know you are very good friends when you love eachother's favorite books. This was fantastic. I grew up in Agatha Christie and now 30 years later I have a reason to return to the mystery genre. Thank you 😊

Strike Struck

I now want to listen/read all Robert Galbraith books and listen to every book narrated by Robert Glenister.
I’m going to be busy!

Unnecessary swearing

I liked this book, but it would have been better without the over the top swearing. It kind of ruined it for me.

A good story sparked by great characters

A good basic detective story, sparked by great characters.

I read the second Cormoran Strike book before the first. What makes the series for me is the character of Robin. In this book, she first appears as a temporary secretary. Sometime during what is supposed to be her only week working for detective Cormoran Strike she realizes that this job gives her the opportunity to do what she has always wanted to do since she was a child – investigate crimes. You should be happy to know that in the next book she has the chance to be upgraded from office help to assistant investigator. But even in this book, with the end of her employment in view the whole time, her help is invaluable.

Cormoran himself is interesting as well. He has a troubled private life, what with having a missing leg due to military service in Afganistan, having just broken up with his girlfriend, money problems, etc.

The case they are called on to solve is especially convoluted. It involves the death of a supermodel by falling out of her apartment window. Her brother doesn’t believe she just fell, and hires Cormoran to check it out.

The case sends Cormoran all over London, and in the end the solution turns out to be something you would never expect.

JK Rowling is a genius

I've read Rowling's HPseries 1 million times, but this was my first time reading any of her other fiction. JK Rowling is a treasure! I'm a huge fan of British detective series. Rowling hits all the notes--the dark and limping detective; his serious and organized sidekick; annoyed yet helpful police; impoverish aristocracy. Rowling pushes the genre by inserting a narrative that confronts race, gender & celebrity in British culture into v classic/familiar formula. Her writing is just tooooo good! Couldn't put it down!!

Hope this becomes a series!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Cuckoo's Calling to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version.

Any additional comments?

I very much enjoyed the story and the narrator. Hope Cormoran and Robin find more cases to solve very soon.