| Date | Chapter | What happened |
| January 2011 | Cormoran Strike met Elin Toft at Nick and Ilsa’s party. | |
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| Saturday April 2nd 2011 | The murderer kills Kelsey Platt. | |
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| Sunday April 3rd 2011 | Chapter 1 | The killer stalks Robin as she makes her way to the rugby match (Saracens vs Bath) with Matthew. They meet with Sarah Shadlock and her boyfriend, Tom. After the match, Robin and Matthew argue until midnight. |
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| Monday April 4th 2011 | Chapters 2-6 | Robin arrives at the office and receives the girl’s severed leg. After Eric Wardle and Vanessa Ekwensi come to Denmark Street to interview Robin in Strike’s flat, she and Strike go to the Tottenham and discuss Strike’s three suspects. Strike sees Robin to the Tube, and then he Googles the suspects. Robin goes to Waitrose for shopping. When she gets home, she also Googles the suspects. |
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| Tuesday April 5th 2011 | Chapters 7-10 | The killer tails Robin again. Dominic Culpepper phones Strike that morning. Mid-afternoon, Strike is coming back from the airport and calls Robin. She’s in a pub called the Court, opposite Spearmint Rhino. After talking at the Court, Strike catches the train and gets a call from Graham Hardacre. Strike calls Shanker. Strike goes to Whitechapel Road, memories come flooding back, and then he goes to Nick and Ilsa’s on Octavia Street in Wandsworth. |
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| Wednesday April 6th 2011 | Chapter 11 | “Strike and Robin took turns tailing Platinum over the next couple of days.” |
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| Thursday April 7th 2011 | Chapter 11 | Strike tails Platinum until she’s under the gaze of Two-Times. |
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| Friday April 8th 2011 | Chapter 12 | Strike meets Wardle at the Old Blue Last and he meets Wardle’s wife, April. Robin goes back to Yorkshire. |
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| Saturday April 9th 2011 | Chapter 13 | Robin goes to Harrogate with her mother in the morning to alter her wedding dress. She talks to her mother about Matthew and Strike in Betty’s tea shop. The Grand National is on. Robin has a spat with her brother Martin and goes to her old bedroom and cries. She searches acrotomophilia, which Matthew sees and then he walks out. |
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| Sunday April 10th 2011 | Chapter 14 | At 8:30pm, Strike is waiting for the train to Edinburgh. |
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| Monday April 11th 2011 | Chapters 14-16 | Strike arrives in Edinburgh Waverly at 5:15 am. He meets Graham and goes to the SIB centre. He takes the borrowed Mini to Melrose. He talks to Mrs Bunyan in the Ship Inn. Robin and Matthew argue again. She finds out he’d cheated on her with Sarah Shadlock. She takes off her engagement ring. |
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| Tuesday April 12th 2011 | Chapters 17-20 | Strike returns to London from Edinburgh. The killer stalks Robin to Denmark Street. Shanker comes to the office to talk to Strike about Whittaker. Strike notices that Robin had been crying. Later, the killer stalks Robin as she’s tailing Platinum. Strike tries to call Robin all day, but she won’t answer for fear that she’ll cry. That night, Strike finds Robin drunk in the Tottenham, and she reveals personal information to him. Strike takes Robin to Hazlitt’s, and then chases a man outside the hotel that was acting suspicious. |
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| Wednesday April 13th 2011 | Chapters 21 and 22 | Strike picks up Robin and takes her to New Scotland Yard. The rest of the victim’s body has been found and Strike and Robin are shown the photographs. Afterwards, Robin and Strike go to the Feathers. Strike goes to Elin’s at Regent Park. |
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| Thursday April 14th 2011 | Chapters 23-27 | Cormoran wakes up at Elin’s and then goes to meet Robin at Ealing Station at 8 am. Robin picks him up in the Land Rover and they set off north for Barrow-in-Furness. In Barrow, Robin goes into the Crow’s Nest and talks to Holly Brockbank as Venetia Hall. Holly gives Robin Noel’s last address. Strike and Robin eat fish and chips in the Land Rover. They stay in (separate rooms) at a Travelodge. |
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| Friday April 15th 2011 | Chapters 27 and 28 | They go to Market Harborough where Noel Brockbank previously worked at Thai Orchid. Strike gets Noel’s number from a woman who works there. Wardle calls and tells them that the body was Kelsey Platt’s. Robin and Strike then go to Corby and meet Lorrain McNaughton to get information on Donald Laing. They set off back home. |
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| Saturday April 16th 2011 | Chapter 30 | The killer is plotting. Cormoran wakes up and calls Wardle. Lucy calls Strike, and he declines her invitation to her son’s party. He also declines going with Elin on Sunday to find a new home. Robin finds the BIID website. |
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| Sunday April 17th 2011 | ||
| Monday April 18th 2011 | Chapters 31 and 32 | Robin and Strike bump into each other outside Tottenham Court Road Station. Robin tells Strike everything she’s found. Robin tails Platinum. She calls Noel’s phone number and Zahara picks up and she talks to Alyssa. Matthew is back from Yorkshire and is acting nicer. |
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| Thursday April 21st 2011 | Chapter 32 | Robin and Brockbank speak on the phone. She finds out he’s in Shoreditch. |
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| Friday April 22nd 2011 | Chapters 33 and 34 | Shanker comes to the office and tells Strike that he knows where Whittaker is. Robin opens a card that’s delivered to the office, and there’s a rotting toe in it. Strike tails Mad Dad, who follows his son to the Natural History Museum. Strike goes to see Hazel. |
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| Saturday 23rd April 2011 | Over the next five days, Strike takes turns following Mad Dad and Platinum. Robin’s mother comes to visit her during this time. | |
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| Thursday 28th April 2011 | Chapters 35 and 36 | Two-Times comes to the office. Robin and her mother go to the office before Linda leaves for Masham. |
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| Friday 29th April 2011 | Chapters 37 and 38 | Day of the Royal Wedding. Robin searches for strip clubs and brothels. She sends a picture to Jason over the phone, which upsets Matthew. She puts her ring back on. Killer attempts to kill another young woman. |
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| Sunday 1th May2011 | Strike stays at Elin’s. | |
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| Monday 2st May 2011 | Chapters 39 and 40 | Strike wakes up at Elin’s to find out via the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed. Robin is at the office when Strike arrives. She tells him about Jason in Leeds who has agreed to meet her. Strike appreciates Robin and thinks: “There was still time.” |
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| Tuesday 3nd May 2011 | Robin and Strike do their own things and barely see each other for the next week or so. | |
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| Monday 9th May 2011 | Chapter 41 | Wardle calls Strike and tells him about an attempted murder. |
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| Tuesday 10th May 2011 | Chapter 41 | Strike tells Robin about the attempted murder. He goes to see a lawyer about Mad Dad. He tails Stephanie and clashes with Whittaker. |
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| Thursday 12th May 2011 | Chapter 42 | Strike watches the Saracen (strip club) but Brockbank doesn’t seem to be working there anymore. |
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| Friday 13th May 2011 | Chapter 42 | Robin calls Strike while he’s in a clothing store, World Fair. She tells him Jason is coming to meet them tomorrow. |
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| Saturday 14th May 2011 | Chapters 43 and 44 | Strike and Robin meet at Pret A Manger on Kings Road before meeting Tempest and Jason at the Gallery Mess. The killer has persuaded It to let him go away for a week in a week’s time. |
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| Monday 16th May 2011 | Chapter 45 | Strike meets Wardle in the Feathers in the evening. |
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| Tuesday 17th May 2011 | Chapter 45 | Strike tells Robin that Wardle told him where Laing is living. Strike goes into the Saracen. |
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| Wednesday June 1st 2011 | Chapters 46-48 | Robin tails Stephanie. Stephanie comes out of the house and gets in the back of a transit van. Robin collides with a tall man with a goatee whilst on the phone to Strike. She goes to Elephant and Castle and bumps into Laing. |
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| Saturday June 4th 2011 | Death Cult played at Fiddler’s Green in Enfield. | |
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| Sunday June 5th 2011 | Killer murders Heather Smart. | |
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| Monday 6th June 2011 | Heather Smart’s body is found. | |
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| Wednesday 8th June 2011 | Chapter 49 | Strike meets Wardle. |
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| Thursday 9th June 2011 | Chapter 50 | Robin has her dress fitted. Strike rings to say Wardle’s brother has died and Carver has replaced him on the case. |
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| Chapters 51 and 52 | Robin speaks to Stephanie and is later attacked by the killer while she’s on the phone talking to Strike. Strike runs to the hospital where Robin has been taken. | |
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| Wednesday June 22nd 2011 | Robin’s mother comes to see her and tries to get her to come home. | |
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| Friday June 24th 2011 | Chapter 54 | Robin goes to Brockbank’s house with Shanker. |
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| Saturday June 25th 2011 | Chapter 55 | Strike goes to Robin’s and fires her. |
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| Sunday June 26th 2011 | Chapter 56 | Strike writes the list in Café Vergnano. |
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| Wednesday June 29th 2011 | Chapter 57 | Matthew shows Robin the advertisement in the newspaper. |
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| Thursday June 30th 2011 | Chapter 57 | Robin and Matthew leave for Masham. |
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| Friday 1st July 2011 | Chapters 58-61 | Strike catches the killer. |
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| Saturday 2nd July 2011 | Chapter 62 | Strike gets Shanker to drive him to Masham for Robin’s wedding. |
