The Silkworm is the second novel in J.K. Rowling’s series following private investigator Cormoran Strike. The sequel to The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm catches up with Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, less than a year after the successful resolution of the Lula Landry case. Leonora Quine hires Strike to locate her missing husband, the author Owen Quine. Strike soon discovers that Quine’s disappearance coincided with the leak of his latest manuscript – a dark, unpublishable allegory that includes thinly veiled metaphors of his professional rivals and personal enemies.

This missing person case becomes a murder investigation when Strike discovers the author’s body, arranged exactly as described in the leaked manuscript. Strike and Ellacott’s professional relationship becomes strained as they struggle to discover the murderer, who may also be the real author of Quine’s manuscript.

Fans of the Harry Potter series will find much to love in both of Rowling’s detective novels. Descriptive, playful, and inventive, The Silkworm is a page-turner that is also great fun to read! I look forward to reading more about Cormoran Strike in Rowling’s next installment, due out in 2015.

Availability: USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by:  Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Highly Recommended