Carl Oakden is the only child of Dorothy Oakden, who was the secretary at St. John’s Medical Practice in 1974.¹ Carl was fourteen at the time of Margot’s disappearance and eventually wrote a book about it called Whatever Happened to Margot Bamborough? ²

When Strike and Robin attempt to track him down for an interview, they discover he has a somewhat shady past, including the use of many pseudonyms, time spent in jail for fraud and views that include “masculism, female privilege and toxic feminism.” Robin says of Oakden, “He seems the type to come running at the sniff of notoriety or money.” ³

Strike and Robin eventually do interview him, and he proves to be as horrible as his reputation.⁴ 

In an old photo taken before Margot’s disappearance, Carl is described as a skinny boy with freckles.⁵ In present day, he is said to resemble the old photo with “slightly too-close-together eyes and his narrow forehead.” ⁶ 

^{1: Troubled Blood, Chapter 15
2: Troubled Blood, Chapter 16
3: Troubled Blood, Chapter 39
4: Troubled Blood, Chapter 57
5: Troubled Blood, Chapter 25
6: Troubled Blood, Chapter 57}