In Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling's second entry in the Cormoran Strike mystery series, The Silkworm, private detective Strike is hired to investigate the disappearance of small-time novelist Owen Quine. Quine seemed right on the verge of potentially making it big: he'd written a "poison pen" novel revealing the secrets of all his acquaintances, including the ones much more famous than he. But as Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, are busier than ever in the wake of solving the Lula Landry murder, Owen's wife Leonora approaches him to help find her husband. He's always been mercurial and has disappeared before, but she needs him to come back home, and blithely assures them that his agent, Elizabeth Tassel, will pay for the investigation. Intrigued despite himself (and despite the fact that Tassel does not in fact want to pay him), Strike digs in.

What he finds is first the body of Owen Quine, and then, as the investigation continues, the remnants of the life of a very unhappy man. Quine was unfaithful and often cruel to his wife, and bitter about the success his former friend Michael Fancourt had experienced as a writer. The manuscript of his latest work, the "poison pen" one (called Bombyx Mori, the silkworm of the title), is utterly rife with contemptuous portraits of others. And perhaps that is why his body is grotesquely disfigured, the result of a certainly painful death. As Strike and Ellacott get closer to tracking down who might have killed Quine, they find themselves increasingly in danger.

If you liked The Cuckoo's Calling, you'll also enjoy this. They proceed in a similar way: interview-by-interview investigation, with occasional indulgences of the writing "hiding" the answers from the reader in a trope that I tend to find highly irritating. Because we did a lot of the introductory work in the previous entry in the series, Rowling is able to better flesh out the characters: both Cormoran and his family and Robin and her fiance Matthew get more layers to them this time. I particularly enjoyed that Rowling gives Robin stunt-driving skills, as they play against the "spunky but ultimately passive" type I thought the character was starting to fall into.

I have liked reading both of the books in this series, but not enthusiastically. Part of it is that the genre doesn't especially appeal to me. I'm just not big into mysteries. Part of it is the way she characterizes Cormoran as someone who thinks of himself as ugly but has no problem attracting attention from women, which is something I do not care when either men or woman are written that way. The prose and plot are mostly fine, though I did think this had a few too many characters. There's obviously plenty good here, as you can tell by my rating, but I don't know that this is going to be a series that I feel compelled to closely follow. I do recommend it, but be prepared for some gruesomeness in the text. ( )

I read this very quickly (as opposed to the first in the series, which I read on audiobook) and I am sad it is over. I like the characters of Cormoran and Robin very much, although (with the exception of random friends and relatives of Cormoran, whom he roped in for particular tasks,) no one else was very likeable. It is cool that Robin turns out to be such a crack driver and I like what the author is doing with the relationship between her and Cormoran (although if she doesn't ditch Matthew in the next book I might have to take matters into my own hands).

The plot was a bit complicated and I had to keep referring back to the synopsis of "Bombyxx Mori" to try to keep things straight. There were slightly too many male characters who had something to do with publishing and I was only just beginning to get them straight by the end. On that note, what purpose does the character of Christian Fisher serve? (I would have edited him out).

The last few chapters where Cormoran and Robin knew who did it, but didn't tell the reader and therefore had to have very cryptic dialogue was not ideal. Still, lots of fun and I think I am going to get the audiobook and listen to it again. ( )

In this 2nd book of the series the main characters continue to be interesting and quite likable. The crime gets more attention in this one, and it's not pretty.
Warning: Do not read before bedtime, unless you enjoy nightmares. :-) ( )

I like the characters. They are actually more interesting than the plot. ( )

Private Detective Cormorant Strike must track down a missing writer-and a sinister killer bent on destruction.
When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days-as he has done I. The past.-and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, he discovers thatQuine’s disappearance is no coincidence. 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-meaning that almost everyone I. His life would have motives to kill him. When Qui e is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, Strike must find the ruthless killer. ( )