Nick and John have posted eight Hallmarked Man conversations since its publication last month and, as interesting as their back-and-forth talks have been, South Wales to American Fly Over Country, Lake to Shed, much of the best theorizing and interpreting of Strike 8 has been happening in the comment threads beneath those posts and in email messaging with John. Determined that these insights wouldn’t be lost or invisible to Serious Strikers, they chose ten of the most challenging for a fun introduction to the fandom conversations readers not privy to the backchannel moderators network or who neglect the comment threads are missing.

In addition, Nick shares the credible speculation that Rowling’s weeklong absence from tweeting has been because she is on her Samsara yacht in the South Pacific, circling Bora Bora, believe it or don’t. John quizzes Nick, too, about the election in South Wales, Caerphilly to be exact, and the reason the results in that dependably Labour area have the UK buzzing (and why Strike readers might expect the populist party victories will color Strikes 9 and 10).

A quick ‘table of contents’ for their hasty review, then, followed by links and transcripts! Enjoy — and, yes, have at in the comment threads, please, the locus of Strike fandom conversations.

* Ed Shardlow: Gorilla Ryan

* Vicky: Boxes and Plush Toys

* Sandra Hope: Traditional Symbolism

* Justin Clavet: Only Fans Gaffe (Ed Shardlow -- ‘Not Proven’ error)

* Bora Bora

* Justin Clavet: On Manhood

* Ed Shardlow: Ickabog Parallel Book Theory

* Sandra Hope: Hallmarked Man as Rowling’s ‘Greatest Hits’ allusion collection

* LC - Dorothy Sayers

* Kathleen O’Connor -- Alternative Incest

* Caerphilly elections -- UK meaning

* Ring Composition Project

Promised Links and Transcripts:

* Ed Shardlow’s ‘Gorilla Ryan’ Theory

The Ryan the Gorilla theory came to me at the point in the book where Robin has an epiphany following an impulse to look up the meaning of a name. I think this was the Jolanda-Violet realisation, but I thought she’d suddenly realised the full extent of Ryan’s dark side, with the significance being the previously noted meaning of his name “Sea King” suggesting a connection between him and Wade King.

That theory seemed very flimsy at first, but on further examination it might have some mileage. There are some notable differences between the attack in the Land Rover and the previous ones. Although we imagine the attacker wearing a gorilla mask, there’s no mention of it, and in fact it says she can see his face. Also the Land Rover attacker makes no demands that she, “Stop” or, “Leave it”. She hits Wade with the pepper spray, which of course, would be difficult for Ryan to cover up, but she didn’t inflict any such injuries on the gorilla attacker. Wade clearly intends to hurt her, whereas the other attacks had no physical violence and look very much like they were just intended to scare her.

1) It’s hinted that Branfoot knows about Robin’s rape, and she says it’s on the internet, but we never get any indication that King or Griffiths know about it. Strike and Robin never consider that the attacker might be someone who knows about it because they’re close to Robin. That seems like an oversight.

2) The gorilla attacker never refers to a specific case. Murphy may be scaring her into quitting the job and getting away from Strike, whereas a suspect would want her to stop investigating their specific case.

3) The police don’t take the rubber gorilla and dagger for DNA testing. That’s pretty strange, unless there’s someone on the inside blocking the investigation.

There’s a bit of an issue with the guy in the green jacket, who presumably Robin can see isn’t Ryan when he’s on the industrial estate and outside her flat. Presumably that was Wade.

So, there would need to be some explanation for how or why Murphy is wearing the same jacket when he accosts her with the ceremonial dagger. But that’s not insurmountable.

Murphy would have been very surprised to encounter Matthew (sic, he means ‘Martin’ -ed.), who he knows from Masham, outside Robin’s flat.

The narrative very much prompts us to think there’s something going on with Murphy, but then we put this down to his work issues and associated relapse, but perhaps that blinds us (and Robin) to another possibility. And if it is the case, then Strike hasn’t just let Robin go to dinner with his romantic rival, but she’s heading into mortal danger. Were his instincts subconsciously alerting him to the threat? Did he leave it too late to shout, “Brake!” again?

Nicola Reed’s Objection to ‘Gorilla Ryan’ (Sandy Hope, too)

Kathleen O’Connor’s Cogent Counterpoint to John’s Incredulity about No One Noticing How Short Faux-Wright was in the Ramsay Silver footage

Vicky on the Interpretation of Robin’s “Stuffed Toy” Dream

Brenna Hill asks ‘Why is the New Ellacott Puppy Named Betty?’

Sandra Hope Jumpstarts Conversation about Traditional Symbolism in Hallmarked Man

* Masonic Orb Pendant for sale on Etsy ($795)

* Jacob’s Ladder Mosaic in Masonic Hall, London (Alamy)

* The Bohun Swan (‘Chained Swan’) (Wikipedia)

Justin Clavet: The ‘Only Fans’ Gaffe

· I commented on the Hogwarts Professor gaffes pillar [Placeholder, ed.] post about the OnlyFans error - that the OnlyFans website was launched in November 2016, but in the book, the murdered Sofia is said to be a prolific OnlyFans poster before her disappearance in June of that same year. The OnlyFans account is only a small point in this large plot, but one that is repeatedly referred to, and Sofia’s OnlyFans account is what ultimately brought her to the attention of her killer. For such a meticulous plotter and, as John would say, “OCD” author as Rowling is, does this real-world chronological impossibility give you pause? What other big historical error like this can be found in her books?

· Did you notice that the interview with the pornstar occurs in chapter 69? I think Rowling was having a bit of (structural) fun and winking at the observant reader with that one.

* Justin Clavet’s 3 September ‘Gaffes’ posting about ‘Only Fans’

The reference to OnlyFans in chapter 33 (p. 269) felt anachronistic to me, as I don’t remember ever hearing about the website before the pandemic era. And sure enough, according to Wikipedia (citing a New York Times article), the website didn’t launch until November 2016. Therefore, Sofia – who was murdered in June 2016 – could not have been a prolific OnlyFans poster. Sofia’s supposed OnlyFans account is referenced several further times throughout the book. Based on data from Google Trends, it seems incredibly unlikely that Strike and Robin would have readily known what OnlyFans was in late 2016/early 2017.

So Where is Bora Bora?

The Caerphilly 2025 Election: Victories for Left and Right Wing Populist Parties

* 2025 Caerphilly Bi-Election (Wikipedia!)

* UK’s Ruling Labour Suffer Crushing Defeat Against Political Insurgents at Ballot Box (Breit