The Cuckoo’s Calling

By Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling)

Believe it or not, this is the first book by J.K. Rowling that I've read. I'm not a big reader of fantasy fiction, so I haven't read the Harry Potter books, and while I wanted to read The Casual Vacancy, I haven't gotten around to it as of yet.

The Cuckoo's Calling is not perfect, however despite some imperfections, Rowling is an excellent writer and she made the book compelling enough. In putting together this Detective story, she falls back on some of the old Detective story traditions, like the down-on-his-luck P.I. who is not only trying to keep his life together, but also solve a case; in this case the death of a popular model that has been deemed a suicide. There is also the secretary, who is key to the Detective's success, in this case a temp who really wants to stay at the agency, but knows it's on it's last leg. All of this works, with the Detective and his Secretary compelling enough characters.

The only flaw I realized, and this was when I had gotten deep in the book was the fact that in trying to solve this case I never sensed that the Detective was in any danger - except for from his own personal life and failings. His life never seemed to be on the line if he continued investigating - absolutely no sense of danger whatsoever. But that also made The Cuckoo's Calling interesting, in that despite that lack of danger, somehow I kept reading and found it compelling enough that if she writes a second book featuring this character I'd definitely read it.