Would you like to refresh your memory of the events of The Silkworm before you begin the third book in the series, Career of Evil?
Spoiler warning: This page doesn’t name the killer, but it includes lots of details about the case and gives a full summary of Strike and Robin’s relationship throughout this book.
Synopsis
Strike is exhausted by working as many cases as he can to clear the agency of debt. He is taking very little money from the business, but is paying a salary to Robin as a full-time assistant.
After a late night of surveillance and a dawn meeting with a client, Strike oversleeps in the small attic flat above the agency where he now lives. Robin wakes him, and he meets with Leonora Quine, a mousy, middle-aged woman who has arrived without an appointment. Leonora wants Strike’s help in finding her husband, author Owen Quine, who walked out of the family home some days ago after an argument with his agent. Quine has a habit of leaving home for short periods of time, but Leonora explains that money is short and their daughter, Orlando, who has learning difficulties, is missing her father. Strike feels rather sorry for her and takes the case.
Strike meets with Christian Fisher, a publisher who was overheard talking with Quine about a writer’s retreat. Fisher tells Strike that Quine is arrogant and deluded, and the manuscript of his latest novel, Bombyx Mori, is potentially libellous. It contains thinly veiled negative caricatures of several people of Quine’s acquaintance in the publishing world, including his publisher, Daniel Chard, and successful novelist Michael Fancourt. The manuscript is finding its way around the publishing world despite threats of legal action, because Quine’s literary agent, Liz Tassel, sent it to Christian Fisher and Daniel Chard in error.
Strike then interviews Liz Tassel, who tells Strike that she distributed the manuscript before reading it properly because she was unwell. Once she realised the nature of its contents, she met with Quine and publically sacked him. Tassel also tells Strike that she and Quine have been associated for many years, and that she once represented Michael Fancourt but was forced to choose between them.
Liz Tassel gives Strike the name and address of Quine’s girlfriend, Kathryn Kent, but when Strike visits her, she angrily denies the relationship.
Robin’s fiancé, Matthew, is not happy that Robin is working for Strike as the job is poorly paid and he is suspicious of Strike’s motives. Robin arranges for Matthew and Strike to meet over dinner. The evening doesn’t go well: Strike is late, and he and Matthew do not warm to each other. Matthew grudgingly accepts that Strike will be attending the wedding, and Strike assumes his lukewarm assessment of Matthew the next day has offended Robin, although in fact she is worried about being overlooked when Strike talks about taking on a new detective.
Strike’s investigation into the whereabouts of Owen Quine continues. A contact puts him in touch with Nina Lascelles, who works at Quine’s publishers, Roper-Chard. She agrees to Strike posing as her date at an office party, where they meet Quine’s editor, Jerry Waldegrave. Strike learns that Bombyx Mori contains parodies of Liz Tassel, Leonora Quine and Jerry Waldegrave, amongst others, and while Strike observes people at the party, Nina makes him a surreptitious photocopy of the manuscript. He invites her to his birthday dinner, due to take place the following evening at his sister Lucy’s house, as a thank you.
The following day, Strike begins to read the manuscript, a strange novel full of symbolism, violence and obscenity. At his birthday dinner, Nina reveals that the Quines co-own a house with Michael Fancourt. Strike spends the night at Nina’s.
The following day, Strike collects the key to the Quines’ second house from Leonora and goes there in search of Quine. When he arrives, he finds the house has been covered in acid and the heating turned up high. He discovers the body of Owen Quine disembowelled and surrounded by plates and cutlery, and calls the police.
Strike is interviewed at Scotland Yard by Detective Inspector Richard Anstis, an erstwhile colleague from his time in the Special Investigation Branch. During a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Strike saved Anstis’ life when the vehicle they were travelling in was destroyed by an IED — the same explosion in which Strike lost his leg. He fills Anstis in on his investigation and guesses that Leonora Quine is going to be a suspect. She arrives at the police station looking for him, and he agrees to keep working for her.
Back in the office, Strike continues to read the manuscript and realises that the passages about the hero’s death describe the way Quine’s body was left. He is updating Robin when Matthew calls to tell her that his mother has died suddenly. Robin leaves to go to Matthew, and Strike calls DI Anstis to tell him what he’s discovered in the manuscript.
Strike and Robin meet at The Cambridge to avoid journalists who are waiting for them outside the agency’s office. It is Strike’s birthday and Robin gives him a basket of Cornish food and drink. They discuss the psychological aspects of the case (Robin studied psychology at university before she dropped out) as well as possible means and motives. Strike again mentions his intention of taking on another detective, which upsets Robin.
Strike visits Leonora Quine again, and meets her daughter, Orlando. The police have removed all traces of Bombyx Mori and locked Quine’s study, which has upset Orlando, and Leonora reports being followed and having dog excrement put through her letter-box.
That evening, Strike eats with Anstis and his wife, Helly. Anstis tells Strike about the forensics of the Quine case, including the fact that his guts were missing from the scene of the crime. Helly tells Strike that his ex-fiancée, Charlotte, is to marry Jago Ross in a couple of weeks’ time. The next day, Strike buys a magazine featuring photos and an interview with Charlotte and Jago. He thinks back over their turbulent relationship and how he knows that Charlotte is only marrying Jago as an act of revenge against Strike for leaving her.
Feeling the need to do something to stop himself thinking about Charlotte, Strike proposes that he and Robin visit their suspects’ houses to see their living circumstances. Whilst they are out, Strike badly injures his knee. A further conversation with Anstis convinces Strike that the police suspect Leonora Quine is the killer, and he puts her in touch with a lawyer and old friend, Ilsa Herbert.
The next day at lunch, Strike interviews Elizabeth Tassel, Quine’s agent, about her relationships with Quine and Michael Fancourt, her interpretation of the manuscript, and her movements around the time that Quine was murdered. When he returns to the office, Robin informs him that she has been unable to hire the automatic car he needs to drive to Devon to interview Daniel Chard. Robin sees an opportunity to show her commitment to investigative work and offers to drive him, and Strike agrees.
The following day the weather is terrible, and on a snowy motorway a tanker jack-knifes in front of them. Robin reacts quickly and avoids the accident. Strike is impressed, and she tells him that she took some advanced driving courses after she dropped out of university. When they arrive, Daniel Chard wants to speak to Strike alone, but although she is excluded from the interview, Robin observes Chard’s domestic staff and makes some useful observations that she passes on to Strike later.
On the way back to London , Strike and Robin stop for food at Burger King. Strike tries to explain why he didn’t insist on her being present during the Chard interview, and Robin’s frustrations boil over. She asks him what he was intending when he took her on. He tells her that she’s got a lot of aptitude for the job but she’s marrying someone who hates her doing it. Robin is elated with his assessment of her skills, and is adamant she wants to be a detective, so Strike agrees to send her on a surveillance course with a view to her becoming his partner-in-training.
They run into further bad weather on the way back to London, and Robin very nearly misses her train to Yorkshire for Matthew’s mother’s funeral. She had not told Matthew that she was driving Strike to Devon, and when she accidentally lets this slip the next day, Matthew is furious. Meanwhile, in London, Strike is attacked by an unknown assailant and in the struggle he falls, doing further damage to his leg.
On her return to London, Robin interviews a bookshop owner who claims to have seen Quine before his death and Strike interviews a drunken Jerry Waldegrave over lunch. On the way back to the office, he is attacked again by Pippa Midgley, a friend of Kathryn Kent who has also been viciously parodied in Bombyx Mori. Kathryn and Pippa believe Strike has been hired by Leonora Quine in an attempt to frame them for Owen Quine’s murder.
A couple of days later, Leonora Quine leaves a voicemail for Strike telling him that Anstis has arrested her for the murder of her husband. Strike alerts Ilsa Herbert and visits Leonora in prison, promising to get her released.
Strike has dinner at the River Cafe with his half brother on his father’s side, Al Rokeby. Strike questions the waitress who witnessed an argument between Quine and Tassel at the restaurant the night he disappeared.
The following day is Charlotte’s wedding day. To avoid dwelling on it, Strike tries to work the case. He ends up drinking in The Tottenham, and Charlotte texts him to tell him she is married.
On Monday morning, Robin arrives at work to find a note from Strike telling her he knows who killed Quine. On his return to the office, he lays out his theory to a sceptical Robin and explains how they might go about proving it.
They go and visit Leonora’s daughter, Orlando, who is being cared for by the Quine’s neighbour, Edna. They encourage Orlando to show them her drawings and the collection of small treasures she carries around. They take a couple of items away with them.
Strike then interviews the famous novelist Michael Fancourt, who is condescending to Strike. Strike retaliates by quoting Catallus at length. That evening he phones his old friend from Cornwall, Dave Polworth, and asks him for a big favour. Polworth is happy to oblige.
Strike and Robin interview Kathryn Kent and Pippa Midgley at Kath’s flat, which yields some further useful information.
The next day, Polworth calls Strike to tell him he’s been successful in his mission, and then Robin arrives in the office having finally managed to get her hands on another piece of evidence. Believing he now has enough to prove Leonora’s innocence, Strike calls Anstis, but Anstis isn’t convinced.
Strike sees no alternative but to confront the killer himself. Al Rokeby helps him gain entry to the Chelsea Arts Club, where the publishing company is hosting a dinner at which their pool of original suspects are present.
Strike confronts the killer and lays out his proof. The killer then tries to escape in a taxi, but Robin is posing as the taxi driver. The killer attacks Robin as she drives, and she ends up crashing the car. The killer is arrested by the police.
The novel ends with Strike visiting Robin, who is at home recuperating from the minor injuries she sustained in the car crash. He fills her in on the conclusion of the case, and tells her that he has visited Leonora and Orlando at home. He gives Robin a Christmas present of a surveillance course.
As he leaves, he shakes her hand. On the point of relinquishing it, “he gave it a quick twist. He had kissed the back of it before she knew what had happened. Then, with a grin and a wave, he was gone.”