#lethal white

3 years and a month ago, I brought home my new dog.

One-eyed Willy…. named after the pirate in Goonies by someone who didn’t catch the double entendres.

We thought he was blind and deaf. The rescue organization who has a ton of experience with this sort of breeding error also thought he was blind and deaf.

And then he came on the screen (playing Billy Knight) And it was Eddie!

What follows is live footage of me spotting Eddie Munson in Cormoran Strike:

I got thinking about Kilburn this week because I was due to be in London doing Strike things, Kilburn keeps cropping up in the books and I have never been there.

I know of four connections but there might be more:

Rochelle Onifade's aunt lives there (The Cuckoo's Calling),

Robin pays a deposit on a room in a shared house there (Lethal White),

Pat Chauncey lives there (The Ink Black Heart) and

In the TV adaptation of The Ink Black Heart, Robin's flat is there and not really in Walthamstow (thanks to @ludicrousmoniker for this!)

Rochelle's funeral might have been in Kilburn but I don't think we know enough about that to be sure. The Cuckoo's Calling mentions a North London cemetery, which could be Paddington Old Cemetery, but equally could be Hendon or Golders Green. The only other clue is that the mourners walk from the funeral service to the wake at the Red Lion pub. Of course, it might have been a fictional Red Lion, but assuming it was real just for fun, I haven't found a good candidate yet; there was a Red Lion pub in Kilburn in walking distance (although not easy walking distance) but it seems it had changed its name by 2007. My jury is still out, but I am planning to stroll around the other cemeteries to see if they are a better fit.

The only certain book location is Kilburn High Road, where Strike, having dropped Pat home, goes to buy some essentials after the office is bombed in The Ink Black Heart. Here it is in all its glory.

This is Robin's TV flat, I think. It's right by the beautiful Kilburn Park tube station and some interesting buildings, of which more to come.

Part 2 ...

Or did they have an almost kiss twice and I just forgot?!

St Nicholas's Church to Albury Street

This is Part Two, link to Part One below.

Robin is brought back to the present by a call from Strike and they discuss Billy Knight's visit to the Agency's offices in Denmark Street. A dog arrives and makes Robin jump.

This dog wouldn't oblige. Must pack dog biscuits next time. 🐕

She ends the call and her ice-cream and leaves the church, going out the way she came in and missing these finials at the other gate, which are also unusual. I am guessing that these golden balls are a reminder that St Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers.

Now, she could get home in about two minutes flat by going down McMillan Street and accessing Albury Street at the end inaccessible to cars, which is almost opposite (about where the red car is in this photo).

The backs of the Albury Street hoses are clearly visible here.

But this being JKR we employ a bit of geographic licence and make her walk a few yards down the A200 and turn left at this junction into Deptford High Street ...

... which takes Robin past The White Swan, described as a pub in Lethal White, but now a Vietnamese restaurant ...

... where she passes the carved white swan without even thinking about it or "her calamitous wedding day" - perhaps due to her happiness at not having to go back to the Villiers Clinic, or for "some other reason".

And left shortly after into Albury Street with its pretty cottages and cherubs. Short and sweet! 😁