🕵️♂️ The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith – Book Review
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars
Classic detective fiction meets high fashion, secrets, and scandal—with a twist you won’t see coming.
⚠️ Spoiler Alert!
Yes, we’re going there. If you haven’t read The Cuckoo’s Calling, stop now and come back later. The final reveal is way too good to ruin by accident.
🕶️ What’s It About?
Meet Cormoran Strike, a down-on-his-luck private detective with a prosthetic leg, a broken heart, and an empty bank account. But what he lacks in luck, he makes up for in sharp instincts and relentless logic.
Enter: Robin Ellacott, his temporary secretary, who quickly proves she’s much more than just an assistant. Honestly, we love her from the jump.
The case? The apparent suicide of Lula Landry, a glamorous supermodel known as “Cuckoo.” She allegedly threw herself off the balcony of her fancy London flat… or did she?
Her adoptive brother, John Bristow, doesn’t buy it. So he hires Strike to investigate, insisting Lula would never have taken her own life.
👠 Murder, Motives, and Mayhem
What follows is an old-school, methodical detective investigation—interviews, stakeouts, fashion circles, jealous lovers, drugged-up designers, and a parade of people who all might have wanted Lula dead.
Strike and Robin make a fantastic team—him with his intuition and her with the quiet genius of someone who notices the things others don’t. Together, they peel back the layers of Lula’s world, and let’s just say: it’s not all champagne and couture.
💣 The Final Twist
Just when you think you’ve figured it out… you haven’t. Because the killer turns out to be John Bristow himself.
Yep. The grieving brother who hired Strike to solve the case was the one who planned every detail of his sister’s murder:
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Why? Money, of course. John was drowning financially and knew Lula had planned to leave her massive fortune to her newly discovered biological brother, not him.
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How? He manipulated security, faked phone calls, deleted camera footage, and made sure Lula couldn’t tell anyone her updated will plans.
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And just to make it all extra dark—he had already murdered his older brother Charlie as a kid. Let that sink in.
In his mind, John’s plan was foolproof—so foolproof, he even thought he could hire a private detective without getting caught. But Strike is no fool.
💥 Final Thoughts
This book has everything I love in a detective novel:
✔️ An investigator with baggage but brilliance
✔️ A smart, grounded female sidekick
✔️ A high-society murder mystery with layers
✔️ A twisty, shocking reveal
✔️ Writing that’s clean, classic, and clever
Seriously, this was a 5-star read for me. It gave me Sherlock Holmes meets modern noir vibes, and I couldn’t get enough. The pacing is tight, the characters are fully fleshed out, and the mystery is chef’s kiss.
📚 Loved This? Read These Next:
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The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) by Robert Galbraith – publishing world meets murder
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Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz – meta mystery inside a mystery
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson – dark, investigative, brilliant
🛒 Buy Now:
📘 The Cuckoo’s Calling on Amazon
🎧 Audiobook on Audible
🧠 Final Takeaway?
If the rich and beautiful fall off balconies… you might want to ask who benefits.
And never, ever trust the guy who insists he's the good brother.
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