Lethal White

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, 650 pages.
Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacot are back in the fourth of J. K. Rowling's mysteries. Their personal relationship move in fits and starts in this installation, mostly because the detective agency is so busy after their success in the Shacklewell Ripper case in the previous volume. This book opens with a more detailed look at Robin's wedding, giving a recap of the end of the last novel, and then quickly goes through the next year. The case around which Lethal is focused, the blackmailing of a prominent Tory politician, soon takes center stage. Strike is particularly intrigued by the politician's relation to a mentally ill man who had come to their office raving about a child's murder. Is the man raving, as everyone close to him claims, or did something horrible happen on the minister's estate years ago?
As the blackmail case winds to a close, the large cast of suspects and interested parties become suspects in what appears to be another murder. And near-evidence of the alleged murder from long ago keeps wandering in to orbit of the current cases.
 Ellacot and Strike, compelling and likable characters, find their personal lives unraveling and fraying as the main case and a few others, take their toll. The agency has hired a few other detectives, but they're not always reliable. It's a huge book, but it moves along nicely, and all-too-soon it's over and you're facing a long wait for the fifth volume. A great read.