Summary
When Robin receives a woman’s severed leg by courrier at work, four suspects emerge from detective Cormoran Strike’s past. As the police seems to focus on the wrong suspect, Robin decides to lead her own investigation.
Quote
“A vast unfocused rage rose in her, against men who considered displays of emotion a delicious open door; men who ogled your breasts under the pretense of scanning the wine shelves; men for whom your mere physical presence constituted a lubricious invitation. “
Interesting Facts
- Detective Cormoran Strike came from the author’s subconscious almost fully formed. Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) knows several veterans, and he was interested in what happened to them after they left the army.1
- The author took more time to plan this book, as the plot is very complex. The four suspects are presented at the beginning, and there are chapters written from the point of view of the murderer. The reader then tries to guess which suspect matches the voice in those chapters.1
- Robert Galbraith’s research gave him nightmares, as he read files of real cases and murders (including listening to serial killer Ted Bundy’s tapes). He had to understand a mindset that is very far from his own.1
- In Career of Evil, we discover that Robin was assaulted when she was at university. The author deliberately waited until the third book to reveal this, so that the reader had time to get to know her, and not only see her as a victim.1
- Robert Galbraith chose to set his books in London because it is such a “big and ever-changing city”. He didn’t want to step on the turf of other fictional detectives, like Ian Rankin’s Rebus in Edinburgh. This book though takes the reader out of London for the first time, to Melrose and Barrow-in-Furness.2
- The author doesn’t want to talk about her family and her private life. She says that if her children when they’re adults want to write a biography of what it was like to grow up with J.K. Rowling, they are welcome to do it, but until then, she wants to protect them.3
- Cormoran Strike’s mother is a groupie and a fan of the real band Blue Öyster Cult, and lyrics from their songs start every chapter of Career of Evil. When Robert Galbraith did research on the band, he couldn’t believe how many lyrics applied to the plot. The title of the book comes from one of the band’s songs.4
1 Source: Interview with National Public Radio (NPR)
2 Source: BBC Media Centre
3 Source: WFDD
4 Source: Robert Galbraith on BBC Radio 2
