Who is the main detective in J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novel series?

Cormoran Strike is the main detective in J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novel series.

Strike is a private investigator based in London. He is a former military policeman who lost part of one leg while serving in Afghanistan. The character’s physical injury, financial difficulties, and complicated personal history distinguish him from a conventional fictional detective.

The series begins with The Cuckoo’s Calling, published in 2013 under Rowling’s pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Robin Ellacott becomes Strike’s key professional associate, and their evolving partnership is a major continuing element of the books. Each novel presents a separate investigation while also advancing the characters’ wider stories.

The series is sometimes referred to simply as the Galbraith novels, because of the author name used on the covers. Its central character, however, is Cormoran Strike, not Robert Galbraith; Galbraith is the pseudonym of the author.