7 May 2023: J.K. Rowling revealed in a reply to someone on Twitter that she had started writing the eighth Strike book and that she had spent 6 hours of solid work on it that day.
31 January 2024: Rowling updated her Twitter/X header to a photo of the coat of arms above the entrance of the Freemason’s Hall, London. This ws her first Strike 8 header.
16 February 2024: J.K. Rowling changed her Twitter/X header photo to La Coupee on the island of Sark in the Channel Islands.
21 February 2024: J.K. Rowling finished writing Part 6 of the book.
15 March 2024: J.K. Rowling tweeted from the island of Sark confirming that the title of Strike 8 is The Hallmarked Man.
The following day, she changed her Twitter/X header to a picture of a detail from an English hallmarked sterling silver neff sailing ship.
In another tweet, she confirmed that ‘a few chapters’ of the book would be set on Sark. She also gave emoji clues to the plot of The Hallmarked Man:
3rd April 2024: J.K. Rowling mentioned on Twitter/X that she was writing a chapter that features Strike and Robin in a cold and rainy London in February; specifically Cricklewood.
7th April 2024: J.K. Rowling updated her Twitter/X header to a picture of Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland.
14th April 2024: As the StrikeFans team were visiting London, we asked J.K. Rowling if she could let us know a pub from The Hallmarked Man. She replied with The Prince of Wales on Drury Lane.
15th April 2024: J.K. Rowling revealed that the song Silver Bells by Dean Martin is mentioned in The Hallmarked Man.
