The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Gailbraith

 

The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in a series of detective novels about a detective named Cormoran Strike. The story is about a famous fashion model, Lula Landry, nicknamed "Cuckoo", who jumped to her death at the beginning of the book. The detectives ruled it as a suicide when the evidence pointed it to that direction. Lula's brother, John Bristow, did not believe it was a suicide, so he hired private detective Cormoran Strike to investigate. Strike, who's had a series of bad lucks in his life, is actually an excellent detective. We go through the story as he and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, interviews and investigates many people that had relationships with Lula, as well as meticulously combing through the scene of the possible crime. It seemed many characters had possible motives to harm Lula, so the book keeps you guessing. We find out what happened at the end of the book. The killer was actually John Bristow. He was accustomed to a luxurious lifestyle, so after some failed business dealings, he was completely broke. He knows Lula (who was adopted) had told everyone that she was leaving her assets to her brother upon her death, however, Lula had just reconnected with her biological brother, which is who she was referring to. John Bristow had to kill Lula to inherit her assets before she could tell others about her biological brother. John Bristow had carefully planned the whole murder in order to sneak in to the highly secure building undetected. We also learn that it was John Bristow who killed his own brother Charlie many years before, because John didn't like the fact his mother favored Charlie. After Charlie's death, his mother was so distraught that they had to adopt another child, which is why they adopted Lula. John Bristow thought his crime was so perfect that no detective could catch him, which is why he hired Cormoran Strike - to appear as the kind, grieving brother.