The white-painted boutique they sought stood on some of the most expensive acreage in London, in Conduit Street, close to the junction with New Bond Street. To Strike, its colourful windows displayed a multitudinous mess of life’s unnecessities.
The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
Robin’s brilliant work tempting information out of the sales assistants at Vashti about the day Lula died is vital for the success of the Lula Landry investigation. She plays the part of Strike’s sister, helping him shop for his wife, so brilliantly he ends up buying her the superb Cavalli green dress she tries on as a thank you when the investigation concludes. Her fiancé, Matthew, does not like the dress at all.
The area around Conduit Street has been well loved by fashionable consumers since the 18th century when New Bond Street became the part of town to see and be seen. Conduit Street dressed the celebrities of the 19th century too when V. Givry & Co, glove makers to the Queen, were at no 39. Now Vivienne Westwood’s Flagship store occupies a spot a little further up the street. Around the corner in New Bond Street, flagship designer stores rub shoulders with jewellers and famous institutions such as Sotheby’s, the auction house which has been for centuries a place for the wealthy of London to sell and buy arts and antiques. It has an Egyptian sculpture dating from 1600 BC over its entrance, which is the oldest public sculpture in London. Strike and Robin are not the only people to seek knowledge here. Saunders and Otley Public Library was based in Conduit Street in the first half of 19th century and contemporary newspapers are peppered with its recommendations of new books.
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