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Cover of The Silkworm
The 8 published books · eight months after book 1

The Silkworm

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A novelist vanishes after writing a book that savages literary London

Pages464 pagesWhere to buyAmazonIn your readingnot read yet
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Watch it: Strike · S2 →

Do you need to read it?

Yes. It's part of the chronological order leading up to the end of the saga.

Where it falls in the order

  • Chronological2 of 8
BeforeThe Cuckoo's CallingAfterCareer of Evil
Spoilers for this title

Quick recap

Novelist Owen Quine disappears, and his wife Leonora hires Strike. Before vanishing, Owen turned in Bombyx Mori, a manuscript mocking nearly all of literary London, including his agent Elizabeth Tassel and his rival Michael Fancourt. Strike finds Owen dead in an empty house, staged like the death of the book's hero. Police arrest Leonora, and Strike races to clear her. Robin wants proper investigator training, and her engagement to Matthew wobbles. In the end, Strike proves Tassel killed Owen weeks earlier and wrote the poisonous version of the manuscript herself to frame others. Robin helps catch her and earns a surveillance course.

No spoilersOpens once you mark the title as seen.
3 what changed on screen

What changed on screen

  1. ChangeSuspects without the detectives

    The book always stays with Strike and Robin. The show adds scenes of the suspects among themselves, with no detectives around, which makes it feel more sinister.

    source ↗
  2. ChangeRobin behind the wheel

    The scene where Robin drives through an emergency is in the show, but the book plays it tenser and shows off her driving skill better.

    source ↗
  3. ReferenceName of the worm

    Owen Quine's manuscript is called Bombyx Mori, the scientific name for the silkworm that gives the book its title.

    source ↗
No spoilersThe easter eggs give away parts of the title. They open once you mark it as seen.

Comments

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