(Warning: Spoilers for all three Cormoran Strike books!)
Throughout The Silkworm, Strike states that he wants eventually to take on another employee at the agency: “I’m starting to think, maybe next year, if we’re turning a proper profit and you’ve already had your pay rise, we could justify taking someone else on. I’m working flat out here, I can’t keep going like this forever.”
This worries Robin, who thinks she will be made secretary while a more experienced detective takes her place.
J.K. Rowling says she will be writing at least another ten books in the series, so it’s highly likely that there will be another detective joining the team, but hopefully not before Robin establishes an equal partnership and receives a well-deserved pay rise.
In an interview shortly before the release of Career of Evil, Rowling stated that there’s “a female detective that I have plans for, though she only makes a small appearance in [Career of Evil].”
If you remember, Detective Inspector Eric Wardle’s partner, Detective Sergeant Vanessa Ekwensi, is the only female detective in the book. Could these “plans” for her be that she leaves the Metropolitan Police force to join Cormoran and Robin?
Ekwensi is described as a “thin black female officer whose hair was smoothed back in a bun.” Her “posture was that of a model.” There are a few hints in the book that there could be a great relationship among the three of them. First, there’s the moment where Strike makes a joke using his “gallows humour,” and Ekwensi grins. Her sense of humour seems to be on a similar wavelength to Cormoran’s. She also makes Robin feel more comfortable by being a strong woman in this particular line of work. “Detective Sergeant Ekwensi, who greeted Robin with a smile that the latter again found disproportionately reassuring…”
J.K. Rowling stated that she will continue writing books in the series as long as she can keep the relationship between Cormoran and Robin interesting. Involving Ekwensi could certainly stir things up. Let’s put it this way: If Robin does marry Matthew and if Ekwensi is hired on, there is the possibility that Strike and Ekwensi could develop romantic feelings for one another. Once single (or even if she remains married), Robin will start to grow jealous of their relationship. Of course, we have already deduced from Career of Evil that Strike is in love with Robin (if you need persuading, read chapter 40 of Career of Evil again). It is something he fights to stave off and if Robin is a married woman, he will fight those feelings even harder.
What are your thoughts on this theory? Do the plans for Ekwensi and the suggestion of hiring someone else suggest she will be joining the team? What theories and predictions do you have for our detective duo and their agency? Let us know in the comments below!
Hi! Interesting theory but I struggle to imagine Ekwensi joining Strike. There is no career there for her and the money isn’t great (and he already struggles to pay Robin) so why leave the Met? And we already know that Strike is reluctant to act on his feelings for Robin given that she’s engaged / married now and that they work together so a relationship between Strike and Ekwensi doesn’t make sense to me.
However the jealousy on Robin’s part could be a thing. I hope it doesn’t happen though. Pitting two female characters against each other isn’t needed so I’m rooting for a friendship there (Robin only has Matthew’s friends) or even a mentor type relationship where Robin learns with her.
Hi, thanks for your comment!
I agree leaving the Met for the Detective Agency would be a bad idea financially at this stage. It’ll probably be a while before Robin gets a pay rise and they’re bringing in more money. There are plenty of reasons why Ekwensi might want to leave the Met, she simply might not like the people she’s working with, or some other reason. I don’t believe that Strike and Ekwensi would have a romantic relationship, I think it’s more likely they would get on well and Robin sees their interactions as flirting, which could make her jealous (just like it was implied that she was jealous of Elin in Career of Evil) and it could be this that makes her realise that she does actually love Strike, and maybe it’ll be soon after that that she divorces Matthew. There’s so many ways in which this could go. There’s also the option that these ‘plans’ for Ekwensi are that she becomes a Detective Inspector and will be on the same level as Wardle and Anstis (and Mr Corned Beef of course), so Robin and Strike would have another contact at the Met for more of their cases. It seems more likely to me, however, that this person that they will inevitably be taking on will be someone that has already been introduced in a previous book, but I could be wrong.
Thanks again for your comment! We appreciate it 🙂
Love your reply! I doubt an anvil falling on Robin’s head with the message ‘you’re in love with Cormoran’ would register with her because she is in such denial (and I love her for it) haha! She would be jealous of another female in Strike’s life, agreed and I am impatient for the divorce (and for Strike to punch Matthew)
I NEED LETHAL WHITE!
ps: thanks for this website, it’s a gold mine ♥
Hi all!!
I like that the relationship for Robin and Strike gets deeper in every bk. The fact that they have feelings for each other seems to me to be the basis of something bigger down the line, maybe. I like that they are developing a true friendship for each other, seeing the chinks and cracks they both carry. I’m not saying this right, I just mean that for me, seeing how truly alone they both are, it means so much more that you really see how a “love” is growing with every case they take on. He saves her on the stairs, she saves his case by being his girl Friday before she was and it just keeps going.
I would be happy to see it really be the start of a real romance.
Hi, thanks for your comment!
Strike and Robin are developing a very strong friendship. For both of them, the other is the person they’re in the closest contact with, and I agree they are both quite lonely people. It’s going to be one of those relationships that develop very slowly, which I much prefer to the kind of relationships which we see so much in fiction these days where a couple instantly fall in love. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they didn’t get together for another five books. I’m enjoying the process, so I’m glad it’s being dragged out a bit.
My thought is that the new member of the detective “agency” will be Alyssa Vincent. She has a connection to Cormoran Strike because he used here as his ‘new secretary’ while trying to lure in the real serial killer (set the trap so to speak), to Robin because of their struggle and finally resolution that the dude Alyssa had hooked up with doing bad things to her teenager daughter and most likely would have continued on the wee one; and to Shanker to may be already involved with Alyssa and who is connected to Cormoran through Cormoran’s mother and now to Robin as he helped her when she called upon him to slip her away from her mother and fiancé to warn Alyssa about the bad live-in boyfriend cum one of three high priority suspected killers. Alyssa has been recently fired; some income would be helpful and returning to the bar dance when she was trying to attend church with her daughters… seems like she needs new options and would be willing to entertain even low pay for stability??? She is also a foil to Robin in many ways… from looks to behavior, and there is already an introduction….
There was some conversation about the future role of Vanessa Ekwensi in the books under the topic <a href="https://strikefans.com/discuss/discuss-cormoran-strike/robin-spoilers/"Robin" as well.
There was some conversation about the role of Vanessa Ekwensi in the future books under the topic “Robin” in March. Partner in the agency or a friend of Robin? (Could be both of course.)
After that “recorded delivery” letter, I suspect Det. Carver will be either retiring or loaned out to the MET’s version of Siberia for an indeterminate period. That might well mean promotions for both Wardle (despite the “Ray is innocent” hiccough) and Vanessa Ekwensi. Strike expects to make money off the case; but that won’t happen overnight. Until it does, he cannot afford Robin (Shanker’s bill may be really impressive).
Strike is in a much better place with TWO Met officers willing to talk to him, and Vanessa and Robin did have a rapport.
I hope you are right about Carver CDunne 🙂