Meet the Characters
Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott are alike in many ways, but also couldn’t be more different; whether its their upbringings or their personalities, or even their outlook on life; but together they work as a seamless partnership; like most other successful crime-solving duos throughout history.
Cormoran Strike
Born in 1974 in Cornwall, everything in Cormoran Strike’s life has led to him being the incredible Private Investigator that he becomes. After a wildly unconventional upbringing, and a successful career in the army, he amasses the skills he needs to identify and understand the nuances of people, vital for detective work, and opens his own agency in London.
Robin Ellacott
Yorkshire born and raised, but moving to London with her ambitious, long term boyfriend, Matthew, Robin Ellacott first meets Cormoran Strike as a temp at his Detective agency. With a longstanding passion for psychology, Robin is immediately captivated by the work of the agency, displaying initiative and a natural talent for detective work, quickly proving her value as more than the temp job for which she was initially employed.
Recurring Characters
Sam Barclay
Glaswegian former soldier with a wife and young child who Strike investigated during his time as a Red Cap. Hired at the beginning of the Chiswell investigations (Lethal White) and looks like an affable owl. Good at undercover work, perceptive about colleagues and clients and hardworking. Frank, with a laconic sense of humour.
Michelle ‘Midge’ Greenstreet
Known as Midge. Ex-police Mancunian hired as the investigations into disappearance of Margot Bamborough conclude (Troubled Blood) on recommendation of policewoman Vanessa Ekwensi. Extremely fit, outspoken, and capable, she moved to London after a bad break-up. Becomes close to one of the agency clients during the investigations into Jonathan Wace (The Running Grave).
Pat Chauncey
Heavy smoking, raspy-voiced office manager hired before Bamborough case begins (Troubled Blood). Initially suspicious of Strike, who reminds her of her ex-husband, she is now a loyal member of the team. She saves Strike’s life from a bomb (The Ink Black Heart) and provides a safe house during the investigations into Jonathan Wace (The Running […]
Ryan Murphy
Attractive C.I.D. officer who interviews Robin about her meeting with Edie Ledwell, and subsequently asks her out (The Ink Black Heart). By the time investigations into the Universal Humanitarian church begin, they have been together eight months. Ryan is popular with office manager Pat, and Robin’s parents, but he is an alcoholic with a failed […]
Nick and Ilsa Herbert
Nick Herbert is a gastroenterologist, Spurs fan, son of a taxi driver and a friend of Strike’s since they went to the same rough comprehensive in Hackney. He met his wife Ilsa at his and Strike’s joint 18th birthday party at the Bell in Whitechapel, and their attraction was immediate and profound. Ilsa, bespectacled and […]
Charlotte Campbell
His friends and family had viewed Charlotte with everything from mistrust to loathing, while hers had always considered Strike, the illegitimate son of an infamous rockstar, as one more manifestation of Charlotte’s need to shock and rebel. Lethal White, Robert Galbraith We first meet Charlotte after a blazing row with Strike in his Denmark Street […]
Matthew Cunliffe
Both born and raised in Masham, Matthew and Robin became boyfriend and girlfriend in Sixth Form at school, because he tells Strike ‘she was the only girl with any brains who was fanciable’ (The Silkworm). They stayed together throughout university, and he was kind and supportive after the attack which ended Robin’s university career, then […]
Dave Polworth
Strike’s oldest friend from nursery school in Cornwall. Now lives in St Mawes with his wife Penny and their daughters. Cornish nationalist, of great help to Strike and Lucy when their Aunt Joan is ill (Troubled Blood), as well as assisting Strike in other cases (The Silkworm). Was bitten by a shark while on holiday […]
Shanker
Shanker, gaunt and tattooed, was taken in by Leda as a teenager after a street fight and was devoted to her. A semi-stepbrother to Strike, who he calls ‘Bunsen’, he supplies key assistance and intel on London’s underworld, which Strike trades for information from the police, for a price. Living with Alyssa, who he met […]
Eric Wardle
Boyishly handsome Detective Sergeant who becomes Strike’s source on Lula Landry case (The Cuckoo’s Calling). Later, a Detective Inspector during Shacklewell Ripper case (Career of Evil). After becoming friendly with Strike, his wife, April, introduces Strike to Coco and Strike meets his girlfriend Lorelei at Wardle’s birthday party (Lethal White). Now Strike’s preferred contact in […]
Lucy
Daughter of Leda Strike and rock musician Rick Fantoni, Lucy is the only sibling Strike grew up with till at fourteen she went to live permanently with their uncle and aunt, Ted and Joan Nancarrow. Two years younger than Strike, she now lives a life of conventional respectability in Bromley with her husband, a quantity […]
Leda Strike
Legendary ‘supergroupie’ Leda Strike was Cormoran Strike’s mother. Born in St Mawes, a place she found suffocating, she briefly married a fairground worker called Strike at eighteen, leaving him again after a fortnight. She then lived a precarious life with a succession of boyfriends in squats, and house shares around London. Her favourite band was […]
Other Characters
- Alexander Rokeby
- Andy Hutchins
- Clive Littlejohn
- Dev Shah
- Dominic Culpepper
- Graham Hardacre
- Jago Ross
- Joan Nancarrow
- Jonathan Ellacott
- Jonny Rokeby
- Linda Ellacott
- Lula Landry
- Martin Ellacott
- Max Priestwood
- Michael Ellacott
- Mitch Patterson
- Prudence Donleavy
- Richard Anstis
- Roy Carver
- Sarah Shadlock
- Saul Morris
- Spanner
- Stephen Ellacott
- Stewart Nutley
- Ted Nancarrow
- Vanessa Ekwensi