Forty years ago Dr Margot Bamborough left her GP clinic after working late, rushing to meet a girlfriend at a local pub in Clerkenwell, London. She never arrived, disappearing without a trace. Her daughter Anna, an infant at the time of Margot's disappearance, needs closure and engages London's most famous detective, Cormoran Strike, to find the truth of what happened.
What I love about this series is how the main characters are depicted as complex, whole people. Often in crime novels the protagonists are all about the job and you don't get to see the impact of their personal lives on their work. In Troubled Blood, both Strike and Ellacott are juggling the pressures of work and family. Strike's beloved aunt is battling terminal illness, his father is trying to reconnect, and various step/half siblings and his former flame Charlotte are vying for his attention. Meanwhile Robin is divorcing her husband, fending off unwanted attention from a work colleague, and figuring out that the unconventional lifestyle of a private detective is what she wants from her career. Rowling has created well-rounded, fallible and endearing characters, especially for her two leads.
There is so much controversy around this novel that it cannot go unmentioned. Even before the book was published there were calls for it to be banned by people who consider JK Rowling transphobic from her comments about gender identity, which she revealed on Twitter and in an essay. I do not agree with or condone her views in any way, but I also do not believe she should be cancelled.
That is not to say that gender is not explored in this novel, it most definitely is: abortion, pornography, sexual harassment, sexuality, reproductive rights, motherhood, rape, domestic violence and more permeate Troubled Blood. Plus, as the plot revolves around a cold case, many of these issue are explored in two time horizons from the 1970s and 2016 which makes for a more nuanced read.
