The Cuckoo’s Calling is the first in a series of detective novels featuring Cormoran Strike. It focuses on the death of fictional supermodel Lula Landry. Landry’s brother hires Strike to investigate a variety of mysterious circumstances surrounding the death - police have ruled it a suicide, but Landry’s brother is certain that darker forces are at work. What ensues is a modern take on a classic genre: the British detective novel brought into the era of cell phones and subways. It’s got everything you expect of the genre: the sharp-eyed but flawed detective, the plucky and inventive assistant, a cluster of telling clues, the big reveal at the end.

The novel’s big claim to fame is that it’s J. K. Rowling’s first foray into adult writing, under a pseudonym that was kept a secret for a year or so after its release. It’s easy to assume, therefore, that the Strike series is a kind of adult version of the Harry Potter series, and that is true to a point. It’s a fun, quick read, a cleverly-written page turner that provides a new spin on a classic literary genre. And of course there is an element of mystery to the Potter series, so in this book we once again see Rowling’s keen attention to detail and cleverly layered plots. At the same time, there is some daylight between the two series - the writing here is a bit awkward in spots, the plot is on the whole darker, and of course it lacks the magical shine of the earlier series. On the whole though, the Strike series is good fun, and well worth the read.