“’Don’t fancy a breakfast meeting, do you?’ Strike asked Robin. He’d just opened the biscuit tin and found it empty. ‘We’re overdue a Bamborough catch-up. And I haven’t had breakfast’” Troubled Blood, Chapter 49.

In Troubled Blood, Strike and Robin take a short walk from the office to Bar Italia on Frith Street in Soho.

Ronnie Scott’s jazz club is located right across the street.

“The small metal tables and chairs outside on the pavement were all unoccupied. In spite of its sunny promise, the March morning air still carried a chill. Every high stool at the counter inside the café bore a customer gulping down coffee before starting their working day, while reading news off their phones or else examining the shelves of produce reflected in the mirror that faced them” Troubled Blood, Chapter 49.

Robin sits outside while Strike goes in to order a cappuccino for her and a double expresso and a mozzarella and salami roll for himself.

“… at this moment, with the sunshine, the good coffee and Robin beside him, he suddenly realized he was happier than he’d been in months” Troubled Blood, Chapter 49.

As planned, the partners discuss the Bamborough case among other things, and speak to the witness, Amanda Laws, over the phone. They also begin to discuss Talbot’s notebook, and Robin produces a copy of Astrology 14 by Steven Schmidt.

“’It was quite hard to track this down. It’s been out of print for ages.’

’A masterwork like that? You amaze me,’ said Strike…’” Troubled Blood, Chapter 49.

“He pointed a finger at the sky.”

“’What?’ said Robin, looking up into the blue haze.

“’If you look carefully,’ said Strike, ‘you might just see an asteroid passing through the house of bollocks’” Troubled Blood, Chapter 49.

Bar Italia is featured again in the seventh Strike novel, The Running Grave. After a team meeting in the basement room of The Flying Horse, Strike and Robin walk to Bar Italia, ‘which Strike preferred to Starbucks’ (Chapter 102). Strike goes inside to buy coffees and Robin sits down at one of the pavement tables. They have a chat about the case and leave when Pat calls Strike asking them to go back to the office.

Find Bar Italia on the map below: