I've finally gotten my hands on THM, read it, and read this thread! I hope some of you are still on here as I have the need to discuss!
I really enjoyed the mystery in this one. Although as per some others, I keep getting confused about the details of the conclusion. For the first time ever, I started making notes as I went along, as usually I rush it, and wanted to relish this book and have a go at figuring out what happened (I didn't). I would say this did increase my enjoyment at how convoluted it was.
The idea of having to find out who the dead person was seemed a nice change, with the rather odd list of candidates.
All the way through I thought I'd noticed something S&R had missed - there was a shop assistant, Laura, in Ramsay's Silver when they first visit (sullen, slouches off for lunch). I was convinced she'd had access to the computer, sent the emails to Oz, arranged William Wright's interview, etc. Was frankly quite insulted she was immediately forgotten and never mentioned again (unless she's the assistant that quits when Todd's murder is discovered as is scared of getting murdered). She's never questioned or anything.
I also thought perhaps Rita Linda was Rena Liddell. There were several 'RL's as per Niall's letter - Ralph Lawrence, Rena Liddell, but that wasn't really focussed on.
The whole thing struck me as quite 'Jonathan Creek', and although the killer getting in unseen was reminiscent of a JC episode (and I'd wondered if this is what had happened) my theory was that William Wright, with his 'Guess Who' appearance was actually two people - so that the WW who worked in the shop and the WW in the flat/elsewhere were separate people trying to look the same. Not sure why, ha.
Things I'm still unsure of:
1 - as mentioned by pp, and by Robin and Strike, why go to all that effort when they could have just given him a peanut?
2 - the only reason Tyler Powell's name ever even came up as a possible candidate was Dilys overhearing him say something about silver. Was this him actually talking about the silver shop? It's extremely weak.
3 - as others have asked, what was the plan re the actual silver? Everyone talking about their 'big payment' expected, so were they going to get it out and sell it at some point?
I'm also slightly confused about who Banfoot thinks did the job for him, and Shanker's contact.
I'm one of the minority who, at the start of the series, did not love the focus on the will-they-won't-they - I thought it would be more refreshing to have a deep friendship and professional relationship without having to fancy each other. But now that's been established I want them to just get on with it!
There were a few bits that made me laugh in this book - but Strike's indignance at only getting 3 calimari rings when he's been at that hotel for ages cracked me up (I found it relatable tbh).