Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Cuckoo's Calling

So The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling [rhymes with bowling]) is a mystery/detective novel.  I don't read a lot in this genre, and really I only decided to read this at all because Rowling wrote it, but I was hooked after only a few pages and it wouldn't have mattered who wrote it because this book is good.  It follows detective Cormoran Strike (what a great name!) as he attempts to find out once and for all whether a supermodel's fall from her apartment was suicide or murder.  Meanwhile, he is struggling to put his own life in order, which allows him to be a multi-dimensional character: he's not just a detective on the case--he's got rather pressing personal issues he's working on as well.  His secretary (who secretly wants to be a detective) is a fun character, too.  She's a little bit less fleshed out (although we do get some glimpses of her life outside the office, which is great), and I look forward to learning a bit more about her in the sequel The Silkworm, which is not yet published and which I am eagerly awaiting!  Whether or not you typically read mystery novels, if you like a good, engaging story that will keep you in doubt until the end (I had several suspicions, some of which turned out to be correct), then I heartily recommend this book.