Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith: A review

Cormoran Strike has actually become one of my favorite fictional detectives. It took me a while to warm up to him, but now with the fifth entry in this series, Troubled Blood, I'm ready to put him in the same league with Harry Bosch, John Rebus, and all the others that I look forward to following on their investigatory adventures.

This time out, Cormoran tackles a very cold case. It involves the disappearance of a woman more than forty years earlier. Margaret Bamborough went missing in 1974 under mysterious circumstances that have never been properly explained. Now the woman's daughter asks Cormoran to review what is known about the case and talk with the people who are still alive and who may have knowledge about what happened. The agency in which he is partnered with Robin Ellacott has all it can reasonably handle at the moment but Cormoran is intrigued by the circumstances of the woman's disappearance and agrees to take the case on.

Meanwhile, Robin's personal life is in turmoil. She is going through a very messy divorce from a husband who cheated on her and who is now awaiting the birth of a baby with his mistress. He is eager to get the divorce settled so that he can marry the soon-to-be mother of his child. Robin is also having to deal with some unwanted romantic attention from some of her male associates as she struggles to keep her own feelings for Cormoran from interfering with their professional relationship.

As Robin and Cormoran get into the investigation that they have agreed to pursue, they find a more complicated scenario than they had expected. Moreover, not all of the living witnesses prove to be entirely trustworthy, and even when they are trying to cooperate, time, of course, has played havoc with some of their memories.

Like all books by Galbraith, aka J.K.Rowling, this one is a behemoth at 944 pages. Even so, I found it to be a fairly quick read simply because the writer keeps things moving and doesn't tend to linger overlong on any particular point. I debated with myself about what rating to give the book and those almost one thousand pages ultimately led me to deduct a star, but overall, Troubled Blood was an enjoyable read, one that leads me to look forward to the next entry in the series.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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