
The Cuckoo's Calling
A Cormoran Strike Novel: Book #1
- By: Robert Galbraith & J. K. Rowling
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hours 54 minutes
A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.
Bookseller Recommendation
The Cuckoo's Calling
“The literary world received quite a shock in 2013 when it was revealed that Robert Galbraith, who recently published a well-reviewed mystery novel entitled The Cuckoo's Calling, was none other than J.K. Rowling - author of the Harry Potter series - writing under a pseudonym. Sales skyrocketed, and Potter fans who picked up the book entered a world very different from Harry's, but filled nonetheless with rich characters and storytelling. The Cuckoo's Calling focuses on Cormoran Strike, a private investigator and disabled war veteran who takes up the case of a supermodel who fell to her death in an apparent suicide. Urged by her adopted brother to take a closer look, Strike and his new - but surprisingly adept - temporary secretary Robin delve into the glamorous, high-pressure world of fashion to uncover a darker truth. Cormoran's world is more adult and less magical than Harry's, but I felt the same intrigue and thrill while reading his story. After all, Rowling wove great mysteries into the Potter novels. I recommend this book to all Harry Potter fans who grew up, but still feel the urge to get lost in a world of words.”
Marcus, The Book Tavern
Description
After losing his leg to a landmine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing 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.
Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
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Testimonials
“Every time I put this book down, I looked forward to reading more. Galbraith writes at a gentle pace, the pages rich with description and with characters that leap out of them. I loved it. He is a major new talent.”
Peter James, Dead Man's Grip
“Robert Galbraith has written a highly entertaining book. . . . Even better, he has introduced an appealing protagonist in Strike, who’s sure to be the star of many sequels to come. . . . Its narrative moves forward with propulsive suspense. More important, Strike and his now-permanent assistant, Robin (playing Nora to his Nick, Salander to his Blomkvist), have become a team—a team whose further adventures the reader cannot help eagerly awaiting.”
Michiko Kakutani
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About the author
Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym used by J. K. Rowling, the British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. Rowling has written three books for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy and—under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith—the crime fiction novels The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm.
Reviews
“In a rare feat, Galbraith combines a complex and compelling sleuth and an equally well-formed and unlikely assistant with a baffling crime. . . Readers will hope to see a lot more of this memorable sleuthing team”
Publishers Weekly
“[Rowling's] literary gift is on display in this work. She crafts an entertaining story [and] comes up with an ending that I'll admit I was surprised by. . . . A fun read, with a main character you can care about and one you'll want to see again in other adventures.”
The Washington Post
“A scintillating debut novel . . . Galbraith delivers sparkling dialogue and a convincing portrayal of the emptiness of wealth and glamour.”
The Times
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A Cormoran Strike Novel series

The Cuckoo's Calling
By: Robert Galbraith & J. K. Rowling
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Length: 15 hours 54 minutes
Abridged: No
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,... Read more »

The Silkworm
By: Robert Galbraith
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Length: 17 hours 17 minutes
Abridged: No
Private investigator Cormoran Strike must track down a missing writer -- and a sinister killer bent on destruction -- in this "wonderfully entertaining" mystery (Harlan Coben, New York Times Book Review) that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C.B. Strike.
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran... Read more »

Troubled Blood
By: Robert Galbraith
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Length: 31 hours 51 minutes
Abridged: No
A breathtaking, labyrinthine epic, Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike and Robin novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet.
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough—who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.
Strike has... Read more »

Lethal White
By: Robert Galbraith
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Length: 22 hours 30 minutes
Abridged: No
An unsettling cold case investigation ensnares Cormoran Strike and his partner in a web of dangerous secrets in this #1 New York Times bestseller, the inspiration for HBO Max's acclaimed series C.B. Strike.
When a troubled young man named Billy asks Cormoran Strike to help him investigate a crime he witnessed as a child, the private eye is... Read more »

Career of Evil
By: Robert Galbraith
Narrated by: Robert Glenister
Length: 17 hours 57 minutes
Abridged: No
A disturbing package leads Detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott to investigate four dangerous murder suspects in this "magnetic" British mystery (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times) that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C.B. Strike. When Robin Ellacott opens an unexpected delivery, she is horrified to discover that... Read more »
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