When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before ...

Cracking tale. Ms Rowling has definitely proved that she can write for adults as well as children.

Taking to today's meet up at Peppercorns café. If not picked up at the meet, it will be left on the bookshelves there.
If you've found this book and you're new to this, welcome to bookcrossing! I hope you enjoy looking around the bookcrossing site. If you decide to join bookcrossing (it's free, so no reason not to if you're interested!) please feel free to list me (Tanamo) as the member who referred you. Even if you don't join I'd appreciate it if you'd leave a quick journal note so I can see where the book ended up - you can do it anonymously if you wish.

Thank you. You knew I would!

Still enjoying the characters Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin, but didn't totally enjoy the other characters -they were distasteful! All the same, she writes a good plot and I will look out for the next!

Placed in the book case of a friend's house here by the sea, as a thank you.