致命之白 (2018)

《致命之白》是罗勃·盖布瑞斯系列的第四本小说，由J.K.罗琳（J.K.Rowling）撰写， 笔名罗勃·盖布瑞斯（ Robert Galbraith）出版。该小说于2018年9月18日发行。

背景

《致命之白》是继《布谷鸟的呼唤》、《蚕》和《罪恶生涯》之后的续作。据罗琳暂定计划，至少还会再增加五个故事。在大约两年的写作之后，罗琳于2018年3月23日宣布完成该手稿。该书于2018年9月18日发行。该书沿续了私家侦探科莫兰·斯特莱克（Cormoran Strike）和他的搭档萝𬞟·艾拉寇特（Robin Ellacott）的故事，并且成为迄今为止该系列中最长的一部。故事开始于《罪恶生涯》结束后，萝𬞟（Robin）婚宴上发生的详细事件。

电视剧

罗琳已经确认，《致命之白》将改编成电视剧《Strike》的一部分，该电视剧由汤姆·伯克饰演科莫兰·斯特莱克， 霍利迪·格兰杰饰演萝𬞟·艾拉寇特。拍摄于2019年9月开始；尽管尚未公开宣布确切的发行日期，但该工作室的目标是使四集在2020年首映。

Lethal White is a crime novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the fourth novel in the Cormoran Strike series, and was published on 18 September 2018.

Background

Lethal White is preceded by The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, and Career of Evil; there are tentative plans to follow it with at least five more stories. Rowling announced the completion of the manuscript on 23 March 2018, after approximately two years of writing, and the book was released on 18 September 2018. Lethal White follows the private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott. The story begins with a prologue following immediately after the conclusion of Career of Evil detailing events taking place at Robin's wedding reception.

Plot

At Robin Ellacott's wedding to Matthew Cunliffe, Cormoran Strike's capture of the Shacklewell Ripper the night before is widely known, except by Robin. She realises Matthew has surreptitiously blocked Strike's number on her phone, which results in a row between the new spouses. Before Strike leaves the wedding, Robin accepts his offer of working as a salaried partner in the detective agency.

One year later, Strike has grown his detective agency to the point where he needs to hire more investigators. He receives an unsolicited visit from Billy Knight, a young man with a history of mental illness who claims to have witnessed a child's murder and the burial of the body in woodland some years before, but is unable to provide any details before he runs out of Strike's office. While trying to establish Billy's identity, Strike meets Billy's older brother Jimmy and Jimmy's girlfriend Flick, radical left-wing activists who claim that Billy is unstable and unreliable.

Strike's meeting with Jimmy draws the attention of Jasper Chiswell, the Minister for Culture, whom Strike knew of from investigating the combat death of his son Freddie. Chiswell has been blackmailed by Jimmy and hires Strike to investigate; he identifies Geraint Winn, the husband of a political enemy, as Jimmy's likely partner. Chiswell does not reveal what he is accused of, but claims that what he did was legal "at the time". Robin goes undercover in Chiswell's office to carry out surveillance on Winn, who has a neighbouring office, and whose wife is a government minister. The undercover assignment places more strain on Robin's marriage. She meets Chiswell's daughter Izzy, who manages his office, his illegitimate son Raphael, who also works there, and his second wife Kinvara. By bugging Winn's office, Robin discovers that Winn has been embezzling money from his and his wife's charity, and Chiswell uses this knowledge to stop Winn's blackmail.

Chiswell summons Strike and Robin to a house that he keeps in the city for business, but on arrival, they find Chiswell's body, apparently dead from suffocation and an overdose of anti-depressants. The Metropolitan Police rule his death a suicide, but Izzy is convinced that Kinvara is responsible, again hiring Strike to investigate. Strike believes that the mysterious blackmail is connected to Chiswell's death and eventually learns that Chiswell and Jack Knight, Jimmy and Billy's late father, built gallows for export before the European Union banned the export of torture and execution equipment from member states. Two sets of these gallows were sold to Zimbabwe, where one set was stolen by rebels and used in the murder of a British student. The gallows could be traced to Chiswell because Billy had carved the nearby White Horse of Uffington into it.