If you have read Troubled Blood (latest Strike book)

I know this is a zombie thread from 2021, but I want to say thanks to the pps and big up to historic MNetters.

I have never read the Strike books, but started from the beginning a couple of months ago. They’re sooooooo good! I’ve just finished Troubled Blood - bloody brilliant - and was puzzled by Mazankov and Krupov refs in the final paragraph so I googled.

OF COURSE MN and this thread was one of the top helpful hits. Sigh, I love MN - not just a bastion protecting women’s hard won rights, but also number one on puzzling over these awesome books.

Hooray MN and hooray for JKR 🧡

Have loved all the Strike books but enjoyed this one the most. To say the book was so huge I just couldn't help storming through it in a couple of days. The power of a good story well written!

Newtoholland, you were asking about which other authors were worth reading.
Michael Robotham's books are intriguing particularly his 'Joseph O' Loughlin' series about a psychologist who helps the police.

I loved this too, didn’t want it to finish. I did skim over the Faerie Queene quotes at the chapter beginnings after a while, they made my head hurt!

Bit different but I love the Michael Connolly ‘Harry Bosch’ books, really good.

Jackson Brodie is a natural transition. I also like Jo Spain.

I’ve read that Mazankov and Krupov are characters from Tolstoy’s Ana Karenina who have ruined there careers because of women. As he’s smiling about that🤞 for Robin and Strike romance

TY! I think you're probably right about the stomach complaints. I've read that JKR's working on the next one but I don't think there's been a release date.
Jackson Brodie's a good series too

I also thought the coincidence was all the people being ill, Gloria vomiting, his own ‘food poisoning’, Irene’s IBS, Wilma seeming drunk.
Also, Wilma’s daughters talking about how overworked social workers are made him question Claire’s call.

To the poster looking for more good crime fiction, Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson?

Yeah, I thought the coincidence was flu and out of date chicken aswell as poison. Iyswim?
Also just binged on all the books and now suffering a hangover. When is the next one out, does anyone know?

I think the coincidence is so many people having (stomach) illness and sickness

Bookwitch I found one of Chris Brookmyre's in a local free library, "Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks" & I found it really entertaining. Hoping to find more by him, I'm usually a library user but not so much at the minute :(

I am bumping to ask - has anyone spotted the coincidences Strike mentions spotting after interviewing the Bayliss sisters? I've re-read & just don't see anything?

I finished it today on Audible and absolutely loved it.
Definitely the best of the series so far. I didn't spot the killer but it was spoiled for me early on that the killer was a woman so I knew it wasn't Creed.

I don't really read much crime but I have really enjoyed this series.
There is such a huge amount of crime fiction around at the moment, it must be of variable quality. What would you recommend as a good quality crime read?

Thank you @Followtheyellowsicktoad I was looking in all the wrong places!

@rightontheedge

If you re download it on audible, they've fixed it and she's back to Ilsa.

@Thehollyandtheirony it was when Strike elbowed Robin in the face. He asked what she wanted him to do, she required food and alcohol.
‘A takeaway?’

• ‘No I want to go to the Ritz!’

I LOVED the book! And for the first time, I guessed the murderer 😂🎉 I was very pleased

Can anyone help me out please?
I feel like there was an earlier reference to champagne at the Ritz but I can’t find it and I don’t know if I’m remembering correctly.

I absolutely loved it. I've read all the Strike books & this is my absolute favourite. When I'd finished it I wanted to start again.

I loved the book so much. So many side stories and characters.
I went into it thinking I would be disappointed if Strike and Robin didn’t get together but it was perfect in the end. Enough of a suggestion that it’s coming, but still enjoying the build up.
I was pleased to see the rather lovely looking Tom Burke mentioned in her acknowledgements. Hopefully this means he is on team JKR and not a woke idiot. I’m just waiting for DH to finish reading Lethal White so that we can watch the dramatisation.

Thanks for this thread, I was confused about this too! And also have the audio and kindle versions as love to listen when I'm doing stuff.
Have a huge book hangover, what should I read next?

Oh I didn't get that either but I'd forgotten about it! Thanks for the thread and explanations.

I loved it. I love Robin and Strike so much.
Some people complain about the book being too long but I want as much of them as possible.
I didn't want it to end but the ending with the donkey balloon and perfume made my heart happy.
I know he was ill but I was so cross with him when he got her the rubbish Christmas gift!

I listen to the audio books because the narration is great. Apart from the Ilsa/Isla thing which was, annoying this time.

What is everyone listening to now by the way? I have a credit but I have no idea what to listen to. I feel a bit lost now I've finished Troubled Blood!

Thanks, Why - I did just wonder if I'd missed something.

Ohyes - I hadn't spotted that! Must go back and look again.

As someone who reads a fair amount of crime fiction, what I love about Troubled Blood is it's so complicated! There are so many storylines - Cormoran's ex being difficult, Robin's ex causing trouble about the divorce settlement, Cormoran's siblings trying to get him to attend a birthday party, Cormoran's aunt dying, all going alongside the main plot, which is in itself far more complicated than a standard crime novel. She's so clever the way she brings it all together.

Just finished it and I’m glowing with appreciation! JkR is mistress of character and has a beautiful subtle grasp of human nature. I LOVE her intelligence and her humanity. Imagine her as a dinner party guest😍.

As someone mentioned above I almost don’t want Strike and Robin to get together because I love the erotic Tension between them. But then the opposite is true too... in think I can trust jkr to give me a version I will be happy with.
There was one part that didn’t add up for me though. Where R&S were interviewing the old lady who had been on the game, and she reported that her daughter was now an escort. The old lady would have been mid 40s When Margot disappeared, and her daughter currently in her 60s? Both ages seen quite old for turning tricks. But given that JKR is Queen of detail and I have meno brain, I imagine ive missed something that puts it all into perspective. Please enlighten me of you got it and I didn’t.

Amanda White wasn’t wrapped up, it must just be the woman trying to close the window as she said, and the schoolgirl being proud to stick to her story for 40 years but being wrong.

I was actually disappointed that Theo was explained, I thought some of the red herrings should just remain unknown 40 years later.

I really enjoyed Troubled Blood, and thought it was brilliant the way she created so many strands and then tied them all together at the end. There was one thing that puzzled me, though, which is the schoolgirl Amanda White who has a sighting of Margo. She stands by her story 40 years on. Although the other purported sightings are explained, that one isn't. Or was it? Did I miss it?