Now I can relate to all the excitement about the release of a new Harry Potter ...

As soon as I saw this book on the table in Browsers Bookshop, I knew I had to read it. There would be no waiting for the paperback. Or looking at the reviews.

I thought 'The Cuckoo's Calling' was brilliant, and have been completely hooked by the BBC tv dramatisation of the cases investigated by Cormoran Strike.

This is the fourth installment by Galbraith/Rowling and, while now I picture the actors when I read of Cormoran and Robin, I have been completely immersed in the writing.

It is a big book! Just as each Harry Potter installment seemed to be longer than the last, so this now seems to be the trend with Cormoran Strike, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way - I was thrilled to lose myself in his story this week.

It begins with Robin's marriage to Matt. (This relationship has always worried me slightly - would she really have put up with him for so long? And this seemed an overlong description of a situation which seemed out of character for Robin in so many ways).

Cormoran now has to subcontract surveillance work as the agency has grown and his profile has heightened with the success of a recent case.

He is visited by a disturbed young man who claims to have seen a murder many years ago, but then disappears without giving more details. With nothing more to work with, Cormoran has to focus on a new case instead. But the blackmailing of a prominent politician may actually have links with this murder witness. And of course, there are developments in the personal lives of both Cormoran and Robin to contend with too.

While the plot was intriguing enough to keep me turning the pages, the conclusion to the mystery didn't leave me particularly satisfied and some of the characters seemed rather stereotypical.

Instead the personal dilemmas and conflicts, the thoughts and concerns of the two central characters were the most compelling for me to read. I particularly liked Robin's assuming of different personas as she went 'under cover', and delighted in her quick thinking to get information under pressure, without getting found out.

A gripping and entertaining read which I looked forward to returning to at any moment I could this week. Here's hoping the tv dramatisation will follow soon.