#188 in Crime & mystery
The Cuckoo's Calling
- NYT bestseller · 10 weeks on the list, peaked at #1
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Our view
The first Cormoran Strike novel is a detective story of a familiar kind, a murder inquiry with a dark, tense mood, and it does what an opening volume should: it makes readers want the next case. Those who came to the series through later books report that the beginning holds up. It is enjoyable more than dazzling, and it suits readers who like knowing that the series already runs to eight novels.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Cuckoo's Calling is a crime fiction novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the first novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was first published on 4 April 2013. It was followed by The Silkworm in 2014, Career of Evil in 2015, Lethal White in 2018, Troubled Blood in 2020, The Ink Black Heart in 2022, and The Running Grave in 2023. An eighth book The Hallmarked Man was published on 2 September 2025.
Reading order · Cormoran Strike
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 828 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 85% of the weight and the score stays at 7.7 — the Crime & mystery average of 7.6 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 34 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 794 | 96% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Crime & mystery — and a score of 7.7, the closest to this book.
