Cover image of "The Hallmarked Man," the latest novel in a popular detective series

A dismembered corpse turns up in the vault of a London silver shop, missing its eyes, hands, feet, and penis. A Masonic sash is tied around the body and a Masonic “G” carved into its back. Also, the shop, Ramsay Silver, specializes in silver items bearing Masonic symbols. However, despite the numerous implications of Masonic involvement, the police quickly conclude that the murdered man is a convicted armed robber named Jason Knowles. However, many are skeptical, and one of them, a young mother named Decima Mullins, turns to Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott to discover whether the body is actually that of her missing lover, and the father of her baby, Rupert Fleetwood. Thus opens The Hallmarked Man, the eighth novel in the popular detective series by J. K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith. It’s the most complex and confounding of the lot.

Distractions galore complicate the case

A straightforward account of the Silver Vault case might require, say, 400 or 500 pages. Six hundred at most. But The Hallmarked Man is far from a straightforward story, and it runs to 900 pages. There are complications galore. As Strike and Ellacott set out to learn the identity of the dismembered body, they’re forced to cope with distractions that arise right and left:

  • The evidence of Masonic symbols and rituals appears linked to a secretive London Masonic lodge, which opens up one of several lines of inquiry for the pair.
  • Among the several possibilities for the murdered man is one who was involved in an Anglo-European sex trafficking ring. This requires investigation in its own right.
  • Another possibility is that the corpse belongs to a former SAS operator freshly returned from a top-secret clash with ISIS that involves MI5.
  • As the case unfolds, vicious, libelous attacks on Strike crop up in a major London newspaper. They may be part of an effort to deflect his attention from the Silver Vault case by a high-profile London peer. The murdered man may have been a porn star with the inside knowledge to blow the whistle on the peer’s illegal operations.
  • Strike and Ellacott’s client, Decima Mullins, is closely related to the family of Strike’s late lover, socialite fashion model Charlotte Campbell. The family blames him for her death by suicide. Their renewed accusations muddy the waters.
  • To make matters worse, the Silver Vault investigation is far from the only case the agency has taken on. And the two partners must at times alternate shifts with their several subcontractors assigned to the other cases. One, involving animal cruelty, is especially troubling and important. Others touch on intimate matters involving elite London families.

The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8) by Robert Galbraith (2025) 908 pages ★★★★☆

Photo of a set of silver Masonic collar pins, like those on display in a key scene in this popular detective series
A set of 12 silver Masonic collar pins. The silver artifacts stolen in this novel are much larger and more elaborate and they come from a shop that specializes in the field. Image: Wikipedia

The two partners are in love

Meanwhile, as all this activity unfolds, the long-simmering romantic tension between Strike and Robin threatens to break out into the open. The two have been in love with each other for years. But something has always gotten in the way of either acting on the feeling. Now, Robin’s relationship with Ryan Murphy, a recovering alcoholic who is a CID officer at the Met, looks headed toward marriage. And Strike’s elaborate plans to spend time alone with Robin keep getting frustrated. At the same time, the press allegations smearing Strike raise doubts in Robin’s mind about her partner’s sexual history. It appears that he may be the unacknowledged father of an ex-girlfriend’s child. Getting past all this seems unlikely.

And on a personal note

I despise those snippets of poetry or quick quotes from other novels that authors sometimes place at the head of each chapter. And Rowling/Galbraith is an especially egregious offender on this count. This novel consists of 123 chapters averaging just over seven pages, and every single one of them is prefaced by at least one and almost always two such quotes. Of course, if those snippets showed clear connections to the story, that could justify their inclusion. But, with only the rarest exceptions, that’s far from the case in The Hallmarked Man.

When I read a long book like this one in print, I can try to ignore the offending passages. But, as I tend to approach such long stories as The Hallmarked Man through audiobooks, ignoring them is impossible. They represent a major disruption in the flow of the story, making it even more difficult for me to remember what’s going on with the bewilderingly large cast of characters. Shame on J. K. Rowling!

About the author

Photo of J. K. Rowling, author of this latest novel in a popular detective series
J. K. Rowling, who also writes under the name Robert Galbraith. Image: Broadway Licensing

J. K. Rowling is best known as the author of the seven blockbuster Harry Potter novels and three supplementary books. All told, they’ve sold more than 600 million copies, making Rowling the first person to become a billionaire through her writing. The last of those 10 books first appeared in 2008. Beginning in 2013, she turned to writing adult fiction, debuting this series of Cormoran Strike detective novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Rowling was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1965, under the name Joanne Rowling. She holds a BA from the University of Exeter. Twice married, she has three children.

You’ll find all seven of the previous novels in this series at J. K. Rowling’s thrilling Cormoran Strike detective series.

And you’ll see other books in a similar vein at 10 top novels about private detectives.

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