Join hosts Ev, Irvin, and Sophia, as well as special guests Dr. Louise Freeman and Nick Jeffrey, as they speculate on the latest death in the Cormoran Strike series.
Please be warned that there will be spoilers for the Cormoran Strike books in this episode.
In this episode:
- No one wants to mess with Chapter 64!
- How convenient can a suicide be and still be believable?
- Surely THIS time, Strike’s done with Charlotte?
- The inverse of Dumbledore’s will
- Strike needs to be purified of women
- What is the overarching story of the Strike series?
- Is Charlotte the Snape? The Merope? The Dumbledore?
- Charlotte Campbell Strike, the bravest woman we ever knew
- Rowling’s first locked room mystery
Resources:
- The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell by Nick Jeffrey
- Charlotte Campbell-Ross: A Psychological and Literary Look at her Life and Death by Louise Freeman
For more from our guests:
- Louise Freeman:
- Nick Jeffrey:
- Books:
- The Phoenix or The Flame – a collection of essays from authors incl. Beatrice Groves, Louise Freeman and Irvin
- Dumbledore: The Life and Lies of Hogwarts’s Renowned Headmaster by Irvin
The Pub’s Jukebox: Cell Block Tango from Chicago The Musical
One option you don’t have on your poll, but who knows Charlotte well enough to convincingly fake a suicide:
Cormoran Strike.
It will eventually be revealed that he was also responsible (although maybe accidentally) for his mother’s overdose. The series finale will be him being arrested after killing Rokeby. You heard it here first.
(Bear in mind most of what I know of the series is from listening to a couple of these crossover episodes.)
Nooo! I refuse to believe that Strike killed Charlotte or faked her suicide. There is also NO WAY he could be responsible for Leda’s overdose–he was at Oxford and he had no reason to do that to his mom.
Don’t take me too seriously – as I said, I don’t know a lot about the series (not really my jam).
If that is your takeaway from our episodes, then I think we’ve done something right!
I would be SO DOWN with Strike being the ultimate villain of the whole piece. It would be a twist for the ages, put the whole Snape thing to shame. Have Robin as the actual hero of the series, with Strike as her ultimate antagonist! He certainly acted unpleasant enough in the last book to fill the role!
Hello fellow butterbeer connoisseurs! I just wanted to say that I loved the episode and all of your discussions. After both sides have presented their side of the story, I tend to side with the argument that the suicide was just that–a suicide. Pat’s wisdom and kind words to Strike at the end of Running Grave that he could not and should not have done anything to stop the suicide. Strike was also correct in saying that Charlotte lived in a cult of her own unhappiness. I am relieved that the Charlotte chapter of Strike’s life is closed.
Welcome to the pub – glad to have you with us!
I’ll agree with you on the last bit – I would be very relieved to see the Charlotte chapter closed for good, I’ve been waiting for that for what feels like half the series at this point!