The Silkworm

Strike prepares for a party at Roper Chard, Quine’s publishing house. He hopes to gather intel on the author’s whereabouts. Nina Lascelles, an editor at the firm, has agreed to take him to the party. Meanwhile, back at the office, tension lingers between Strike and Ellacott after the awkward dinner with Matthew. She is distant and doesn’t offer Strike lunch like she normally would. Strike focuses on a side case involving a gangster’s son, which he’s trying to disentangle from.

Strike meets with Nina at a pub and learns that Bombyx Mori has already circulated among publishing insiders despite efforts to keep it under wraps. Nina explains that everyone has read at least part of it via scans or dramatic phone readings by Christian Fisher. She talks about the thinly veiled allegories for real people and draws some connections. Strike learns about a character named Phallus Impudicus (Latin for a type of stinkhorn mushroom), based on the Roper Chard executive Daniel Chard. A passage portraying necrophilia is likely aimed at editor Jerry Waldegrave. Nina’s gossip gives Strike more clues about who might have had motive to silence Quine.