The other main criticism of the novel, that it was bloated and slow at 900-plus pages, is more relevant. Troubled Blood is the one that was accused of transphobia when it was published in 2020, but that subplot – a serial killer wears women’s clothing to gain access to his victims, evoking the claim by “gender-critical” campaigners that abusive men will invade women’s spaces if transgender rights are upheld – is barely present here, and was not very prominent in the book anyway. If your only interaction with the Galbraith books is a biennial glance at the headlines they generate, be informed that Rowling’s growing tendency to reiterate political disagreements via her characters is toned right down on TV. This fifth season of Strike, based on the fifth book Troubled Blood, has fans and detractors awaiting it with a fervour other TV whodunnits do not tend to provoke. Published under the name Robert Galbraith, the Strike stories have been automatic No 1 bestsellers ever since it was revealed that Galbraith is Harry Potter creator JK Rowling. Ah, but Strike (BBC One) cannot be like the others, because of the books’ author. A nother Sunday night, another crime drama based on a series of novels. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.Īs Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted.

But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough-who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

In the epic fifth installment in this 'compulsively readable' ( People) series, Galbraith's 'irresistible hero and heroine' ( USA Today) take on the decades-old cold case of a missing doctor, one which may be their grisliest yet.

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith