‘The Running Grave: A Cormoran Strike Novel’ by Robert Galbraith

I’m happy to see the upcoming release of a new Robert Galbraith detective novel, the seventh in the series of which I’ve read all but one.  The main character, Cormoran Strike, runs a detective agency that does its work without hacking into databases or traffic cams, but by old-fashioned boots on the ground, interviews, and stakeouts.

This assessment of the novels is especially apt:  “At Five Books, we take crime novels seriously, and the Cormoran Strike books are highly recommended for anyone who is into the genre. The tricks to keep you guessing or the surprise about ‘whodunnit’ are not quite as mind-boggling as Agatha Christie, but perhaps more realistic. The plotting is solid and satisfying, and doesn’t grate like in all too many contemporary crime novels.”

From the Publisher

“Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

“The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones and unexplained deaths.

“In order to try to rescue Will, Strike’s business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

“Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike’s and Robin’s story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.”

The books are long and I see that as good. Running Grave, to be released September 26th by Mulholland Books, gives you 960 pages of whodunnit. It’s listed by Amazon in the “International Mystery And Crime,” “Private Investigator,” and “Cozy Mysteries” categories.

–Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the Florida Folk Magic Series, available at a savings in this four-book Kindle volume.

One thing and another

I usually save these catch-all posts for Sundays, but then I realized I have nothing earthshaking to talk about (not that that’s stopped me from posting in the past).

  • No, Facebook has not fixed the software fault on my author’s page. The page is fairly worthless if I cannot post links. If they continue to do nothing, I’ll delete the page.
  • I’ve been updating my website. There’s more I want to do, but for now, I think the books are easier to find now that I’ve moved the books in the folk magic series to a separate page. Now there’s room to display more information about each book.
  • Our heat wave in north Georgia continues with 100° temps. What’s odd is that the daily weather report keeps forecasting an afternoon thunderstorm that never shows up. Well, nothing is promised for today, but tomorrow there’s supposed to be a cooling shower. Yeah, no, like I believe that.  The only consolation here is that we’re not the only ones who can fry eggs on the sidewalks.
  • We watched “Bull Durham” on TV last night and think it’s held up well during the last three decades. Of course, Susan Sarandon’s character made a big splash in that, though what I liked best was how well the film portrayed baseball in the minor leagues. The team reminded me of the team in the movie “The Natural” that was also inept until somebody came along with the competence and charisma to change everyone’s attitude.
  • On a personal note, I’m getting fed up with news stories and Facebook posts that say “legacy media” is spreading hate and lies. I think newspapers and local TV outlets have a long way to go to “catch up” with the slanted news on CNN and Fox.
  • I still haven’t finished Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and, on balance think it includes a lot of digressions about the detective agency’s cases that get left out of most novels. To enjoy the book, you have to be willing to tackle a long haul in the novels (four, at present) in the Cormoran Strike series.
  • If you ever watched the “Star Trek – Deep Space Nine” series, you may remember that when Dax and Worf had sex, they ended up so badly injured that they needed to check in to the infirmary the following morning. I have a scene like that in my novel in progress and have started wondering how my publisher is going to react when she sees the manuscript.

Malcolm