Lethal White is too long, and too complicated, but there is sharp social comedy to be found here, whether it’s the skewering of the upper classes, who call one another names such as Torks and Tinky and make horrible cups of tea, or the equally pointed lampooning of Jimmy Knight and his lefty protesters. The novel opens as Strike’s assistant, now partner, Robin Ellacott, marries the worthless Matthew, and part of the joy of reading this book is watching the will-they-won’t-they dance of Strike and his colleague. It seems such a specific, unglamorous detail for a psychotic delusion.”Īs the mystery elements of Lethal White wind themselves into ever more tangled knots, so the romantic side of the plot also unspools. “It was the detail of the pink blanket that kept nagging at him. “Strike’s incurable predilection for getting to the root of puzzling incidents tended to inconvenience him quite as much as other people,” writes Galbraith.

And the child, who might have been murdered, and who Strike can’t forget, despite the fact that nobody is paying him to do any detecting on this one. Still with me? In what Galbraith’s alter ego JK Rowling calls “one of the most challenging books I’ve written”, there is also murder – although it comes a significant way into this 650-page doorstopper – horses, art and lots of disguises and undercover work.

As the mystery elements wind themselves into ever more tangled knots, so the romantic side of the plot also unspools

Robert galbraith lethal white