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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 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

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

Videos

Quotes

How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.

The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.

When you are young, and beautiful, you can be very cruel.

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