Troubled Blood
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Troubled Blood is the fifth novel in the Cormoran Strike series, written by J. K. Rowling and published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel was released on 15 September 2020.
Contents |
Plot
Troubled Blood begins in August 2013 and ends on Robin's 30th birthday on 9 October 2014. While visiting his terminally ill aunt Joan in Cornwall, Strike is approached by a woman who wants to hire Strike's firm to investigate the disappearance of her mother, Margot Bamborough, a general practitioner in London, almost 40 years previously, on 11 October 1974. As a result of their previous successes, Strike and Robin (still a salaried partner) now employ three contract investigators and an office manager. Both are dealing with their own irritations: Strike over his aunt's illness, suicide threats from his ex-fiancee Charlotte (now a married mother of two), and the attempts of his half-siblings to get him to attend a party honoring his rock star biological father Johnny Rokeby; Robin over Matthew's intransigence in their divorce, her continuing PTSD, and her unsettled personal life, brought into clearer focus by her brother and his wife having their first child.
The police's principal suspect in Margot's disappearance was a currently incarcerated serial killer named Dennis Creed. The daughter (Anna) and her wife give the firm a one-year contract to try to trace information, although, because the small firm has three other ongoing cases, it takes several months to run down the surviving witnesses and investigators (or their children). During the year, Strike's aunt dies from cancer, Matthew grants Robin the divorce because his mistress/girlfriend becomes pregnant, Charlotte attempts suicide and calls Strike to tell him goodbye—although Strike's quick reaction gets help to her in time, and the heavy work schedule combined with a lack of communication about all of the issues contributes to many personal misunderstandings within the firm, including arguments between Strike and Robin and the termination of one of the contract investigators for instances of inappropriate behaviour toward Robin.
In August 2014, although the firm is still trying to trace leads, the client and her wife end the contract as of the end of August, two weeks before the allotted year. Despite this, Strike and Robin continue to investigate. There are three breakthroughs with the case: Strike locates an elusive patient of Margot’s, Steve Douthwaite; a receptionist, who claims she was the last person to see Margot alive, agrees to speak to Strike and Robin; and, through Robin’s inventiveness and persistence in attempting to secure an interview with Creed behind Strike’s back, Strike is granted permission to interrogate Creed in Broadmoor Hospital on 14 September. Strike outwits Creed and this leads to the discovery of the remains of another victim of Creed, Louise Tucker, bringing closure and relief to her father. Robin and Strike then use evidence from the original police investigation and their subsequent investigation to find Margot's body and identify her killer: Janice Beattie, a nurse who worked for Margot's practice. Margot had (correctly) begun to suspect Janice had been poisoning Steve Douthwaite and was implicated in the apparent suicide of Douthwaite’s lover. Strike deduces that Janice is a serial-killer, who has murdered many more victims over decades. An avalanche of publicity follows the discovery of the remains of Louise Tucker and Margot Bamborough, and the arrest of Janice Beattie. Robin and Strike both move out of their homes temporarily to avoid journalists. The novel ends on Robin’s 30th birthday, with Strike (in contrast to the generic last-minute gifts he gave Robin at Christmas and on her previous birthday) buying Robin thoughtful and personalised gifts and taking her to the Ritz for champagne; enigmatically, Strike smiles to himself as he remembers a conversation with a friend about the competing demands of career, romantic relationships and marriage.
Characters
Main
- Cormoran Strike – A private detective. He is a minor celebrity, thanks in part to his rock star father and his solving of high-profile murders. He is also a war veteran.
- Robin Ellacott – Strike's business partner, trained in criminal investigation. She is a survivor of a rape and attempted murder.
- Margot Bamborough – A doctor who disappeared in 1974.
- Anna Phipps – Margot Bamborough and Roy Phipps's adult daughter.
Suspects
- Dennis Creed – A serial killer, now in prison.
- Luca Ricci – A vicious London gangster.
- Nico "Mucky" Ricci – Luca's father, also a gangster, now in a nursing home.
- Roy Phipps – Margot's husband in 1974, a haematologist who married Anna's nanny after Margot's disappearance.
- Paul Satchwell – A photographer and artist who was Margot's former boyfriend.
- Joseph Brenner – An older doctor who was a partner in Margot's GP practice.
- Janice Beattie – The district nurse in Margot's GP practice.
- Irene Bull – A receptionist in Margot's GP practice.
- Gloria Conti - A receptionist in Margot's GP practice.
- Steve Douthwaite – One of Margot's patients.
- Cynthia Phipps – Anna's former nanny, now married to Roy (thus, Anna's stepmother).
Other
- Matthew Cunliffe – Robin's estranged husband, from whom she becomes divorced during the novel.
- Charlotte Campbell Ross – Strike's ex-girlfriend who is currently married and mother to twin toddlers.
- Lucy Strike – Cormoran Strike's younger half-sister.
- Ted Nancarrow – Cormoran and Lucy's uncle.
- Joan Nancarrow – Cormoran and Lucy's aunt.
- Dave Polworth – A childhood friend of Strike's who lives near Ted and Joan in Cornwall.
- Bill Talbot – The late police inspector who had led the investigation into Margot's death before a mental breakdown.
- Nick Herbert – An old friend of Strike's.
- Ilsa Herbert – An old classmate of Strike's, now married to Nick.
- Max Priestwood – A gay actor and Robin's current flatmate.
- Pat Chauncey – The agency's office manager.
- Sam Barclay – A contract investigator.
- Saul Morris – A contract investigator.
- Kim Sullivan – Anna's wife
- Oonagh Kennedy – Margot's longtime friend, whom she was supposed to be meeting when she disappeared.
