The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith

It has been a very long time since I read Cuckoo's Calling, the first Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling). I didn't remember much about it other than I had enjoyed it and there was a private detective, a dead model or something and the detective was an amputee. 

The Silkworm picks up in the aftermath of CC, in which Cormoran finally has paying clients and is a little more financially stable. All of the private detective novels I've ever read have described the razor thin budgets in which these folks work, why do they do this to themselves? I was so concerned about this that even after I finished the book, I kept wondering if Cormoran was even paid for the work he does in The Silkworm.

The fact that the events of The Silkworm involve a missing author and his weird publisher and agent are pretty delicious as Galbraith gets to turn "his" eye on the very industry in which this book is going to be published. 

But in essence, an author who has produced mediocre work and was of questionable character has gone missing. His wife has hired Cormoran to find him, which he does, but in a very disgusting and mutilated form. So then Cormoran turns his attention to catching the killer. Along for the ride is Cormoran's secretary, turned novice gum-shoe, Robin and Cormoran's knee, which is mentioned so much it should be considered another character. (Actually it was mentioned a bit too much - he goes on and on and on about the pain and discomfort and inconvenience of a prosthetic leg but never mentions to visit the damn doctor). I digress, because it really is this issue that makes the book feel overlong.

There are portions that move a bit slowly through the narrative but Galbraith's solid prose keep it interesting. I did figure out a few of the plot points ahead of time although I wasn't completely sure about how the entire murder worked out until the end. I'm glad J.K. Rowling is continuing to write these stories amid her massive Fantastic Beasts and HP fortunes, because they are entertaining mysteries even if this one ran a little long.

4/5 Stars.