The Silkworm

The Silkworm is a crime thriller by Robert Galbraith. It is the second novel in the Cormoran Strike series, and Mulholland Books first published it in 2014. In the book, a private detective must track down a missing novelist before he’s murdered for writing a scandalous new book. The book won the 2015 Audie Award for Mystery, and it received various other award nominations. Robert Galbraith is a penname for J.K. Rowling, who authored the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy. Although Rowling still writes under her own name, she uses the Galbraith penname for her adult books.

The protagonist is a man called Cormoran Strike. He’s a private detective working in England. He previously served as a Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch investigator, but he decided to open his own agency so he could pick and choose his investigations. His assistant, Robin, helps him with his caseload.

The Silkworm begins a short time after Strike solves a high-profile murder case. He recently separated from his fiancée, and he still misses her terribly. He’s lacking direction and focus, and he needs a new case to reinvigorate him. More than anything, he needs money to pay debts he accrued when he opened the agency.



When the book opens, a woman called Leonora Quine approaches Strike. She’s worried about her husband, Owen. Owen’s eccentric and he sometimes disappears to work on new novels without telling anyone. However, Leonora knows that it’s different this time. No one liked Owen’s latest book, Bombyx Mori, and publishers won’t print it. The book implicates Owen’s associates with evil and wicked practices. Naturally, these associates are powerful enough to block the book’s publication.

In the meantime, a wealthy client approaches Strike for help. He wants Strike to dig up dirt on his rivals so he can blackmail them. Strike hates this kind of work and he doesn’t want to become involved. He’s more attracted to Leonora’s proposal. Leonora misses her husband and she’s worried about him. Strike can understand why. He weighs his options and rejects the wealthy client in favour of Owen’s case.

Now that he’s committed to the case, Strike pulls in Robin for an initial briefing. They go over everything they know so far, which isn’t much. Owen went missing 10 days ago, and he hasn’t contacted anyone. Leonora’s gut feeling tells her that Owen’s in trouble. With this limited information, Strike and Robin devise a plan. They will interview Owen’s friends and family, and anyone mentioned in the manuscript. Then, they’ll take stock of the evidence and see where it leaves them.



First, Strike speaks with Owen’s literary agent, Liz Tassel. Liz admits she’s worried about Owen and that it’s her fault he’s upset. Liz accidentally sent Owen’s book to publishers before it was ready. It’s her fault that the novel isn’t properly censored. Strike asks Liz for a copy of Bombyx Mori, but she doesn’t give him it.

Strike knows that he must infiltrate the publishing world to make any headway. He snags an invite to a fancy publishing party and finds himself a date. The woman he goes to the party with smuggles in a copy of Bombyx Mori. Strike excuses himself early and goes home to read it. Reading the manuscript should give him more people to interview.

Bombyx Mori tells the story of Owen’s failing career. Owen describes feeling like other people in the publishing industry ate him alive and sold him down the river. He vividly describes cannibalism and other torture scenes. Strike identifies seven different individuals from Owen’s descriptions. These are the people Strike and Robin must interview if they want to learn more about Owen’s state of mind.



Before Strike interviews the first person, he finds Owen’s body. Owen is in pieces. Someone butchered his body and burned it in acid. Strike realizes that someone murdered Owen the same way the murder is described in Bombyx Mori. This is a disturbing new development and Leonora is devastated.

Strike knows he must involve the police now. Unfortunately, the police automatically blame Leonora, and she’s the prime suspect. Strike thinks this is ridiculous, but he must find the true killer before it’s too late for Leonora. Before he hatches a plan, however, Robin has something to say.

Robin’s angry that Strike doesn’t give her any responsibility. He makes her do paperwork all day. She wants to help him with the meatier work, because she plans on becoming an investigator. Strike agrees to give her more responsibility, so long as she realizes that private detective work gets dirty and sometimes illegal. Robin knows what’s expected of her and she’s happy to do it.



Strike soon realizes that the leaked manuscript is different from the manuscript Owen sent to Liz. Whoever amended the manuscript is probably the killer. Strike strongly suspects the agent Liz is responsible, and he must trap her before she kills anyone else. Liz eventually admits to killing Owen because he knew dangerous secrets about her. She murdered him and hoped to frame Leonora. The police take Liz away and Leonora is able to move on with her life.