The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike)

Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling's brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel's suicide in "one of the best books of the year" (USA Today), the first novel in the brilliant series that inspired the acclaimed HBO Max series C.B. Strike.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he's living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry -- known to her friends as the Cuckoo -- famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

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Published Apr 29, 2014

480 pages

Average rating: 7.3

215 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Rena M Led
Dec 09, 2023
8/10 stars
Great summer read. Page turner. Loved the two main characters. Can’t wait to read the next one.
KassieB
Aug 31, 2025
3/10 stars
This book was an easy read and didn't make you work too hard to guess the mystery.
Life By Trail and Error
Apr 04, 2025
8/10 stars
At first I wasn't sure the plot because the last book I read had a similar starlet dies but turns out to be murder. As I went on and got more invested in Striker and Rachel the better the story came and the conclusion was very satisfying as well.
Book.Girl71
Aug 23, 2024
8/10 stars
4.5⭐️
Anna Hibbard
Mar 24, 2024
6/10 stars
The story was great with lots of twists and turns. I like a mystery that I haven't figured out by half way through the book. However, it was a little tedious in spots and sometimes the phrasing was a little predictable.

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