the cuckoo’s calling part 3

You know, it’s surprising we didn’t guess it was Rowling right away. She’s got a thing for crazy names. Hermione. Cormoran. In part 3 of The Cuckoo’s Calling (Kindle here), we meet the mysterious Rochelle, have a run in with Lula’s angry racist uncle, and Robin flexes her deception muscles.

Strike is continuing his clue gathering and interviews. He finally met Lula’s friend from rehab, Rochelle, who seems as unreliable as just about everyone else he’s interviewed. Robin finds Rochelle by pretending to be Rochelle when she calls the hospital to ask when her appointment is. Then they stalk the entrance of the hospital until Rochelle arrives. Robin also pretends to be someone she’s not when she and Strike visit the boutique that Lula visited the last day she was alive. Robin has certainly been getting into this detective business. (Speaking of Robin, are her and Strike ever going to get it on?)

Is all this deception necessary? (Also, isn’t Strike calling Rochelle 10 times a day a little excessive?) Maybe if they would have asked the shopgirls what was going on they wouldn’t have had to gossip it out of them covertly. But then again, that would have kept Strike from seeing Robin try on that gorgeous McQueen dress.

So instead of collecting clues this time, I have collected new vocabulary words.

• aide-memoire: an aid to the memory; a written outline of a proposed agreement of diplomatic communication
• penury: an oppressive and creeping lack of resources, especially money
• piquancy: spiciness; engagingly proactive, charming
• anodyne: serving to alleviate pain
• concertinaed: to extend, compress, or collapse in folds like those of a concertina, which is an instrument kind of like an accordion
• exophthalmic: having protruding eyes
• sylph: a slender graceful woman

So, what do you guys think so far? Any predictions on who killed Lula? Right now my money is on Guy Some or the racist uncle. See my thoughts on part 1 and part 2. I’ve read a bit into part 4 and it gets a little jucier. See you here next week to tell you all about it.

(I bought this book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. But I am a part of the Amazon Affiliates program, so if you buy through my links on Amazon, I’ll receive a little bit of money for it.)