Lindsay Land at the Strike & Ellacott Files (S&EF) podcast kindly responded to my post ‘Bad Dads and Peter Gillespie,’ in which she shared the url to a write-up at their website of the reasoning behind their conviction that Peter Gillespie killed Leda Strike. ‘The “Gillespie” Theory’ post has all the iterations of this idea going back, if I have followed the clues in the first post correctly that point to their ‘In the Post’ podcast, to October 2021. To my delight, a significant part of their reasoning was based on Beatrice Groves’ speculation via the rules of ring composition that Strike 7 would reveal Leda’s seeming suicide was not a suicide as were the staged murders in Cuckoos Calling and Lethal White.
Running Grave, of course, proved a disappointment in this regard (if it did have its Strikes 1 and 4 parallels and close off the seven book ring/asterisk neatly, cf., here, here, and here). If anything, Strike 7 gave us another murder staged as suicide, Charlotte Campbell’s, that will be revealed in the three book addendum epicycle to the first seven book ring. See Nick Jeffery’s ‘The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell‘ and my ‘Charlotte Campbell Murder Mystery‘ for more on that.
The S&EF post, though, on ‘The “Gillespie” Theory’ had an extra bonus for those who read through the excellent comment thread following it. The most recent comment (or the first one made if the most recent part of the thread appears at the beginning of comments?) was a completely different theory, albeit one involving Gillespie in Leda’s death along the same lines as Lindsay Land’s and “Pools” ideas. The author, Gary James, has written an alternative explanation of Strike’s conception and the death of his mother in which Leda’s first husband is crime syndicate leader in London’s East End, Shanker is the child of the mafia leader and Leda, and the rhyming slang meanings of ‘Shanker’ and ‘Bunsen’ play a great part.
The platform used by S&EF does not provide links for comments the way WordPress blogs do or even a time-stamp and there is no contact information available for Gary James. He (or she writing under a pseudonym) asks at the end of his longish comment, though, for feedback on his involved theory. I have taken the liberty, consequently, of re-posting his theory after the jump in order to fulfill his request for support and criticism and to invite you to do the same. If Gary James hasn’t already been invited to a S&EF podcast to expand on his theory, I hope he is soon!
Join me after the jump, then, for the ‘Strike Crime Syndicate Theory’ as explanation of ‘Who Killed Leda Strike?’
The ‘Strike Crime Syndicate Theory’ of Gary James
Have read some of the theories around Leda’s story and feel that the Gillespie part fits nicely with my own thoughts. Feel free to shoot holes in mine but here goes:
Firstly Rokeby seems to be a good father as all evidence suggests he has not neglected any of his offspring and given them all good educations (Al being one we know educated in Switzerland). I think CBS was a planned financial hostage for an Eastend gangland family (probably gang boss’s surname is Strike). Leda’s first marriage only lasted a couple of weeks but she ran away, probably to London Eastend where first husband came from, found she was pregnant and had her first son (who will become Shanker).
The Strike family took in the baby and recognised Leda’s looks to move her towards modelling and allowed her to move into the ‘super-groupy’ world to ensnare Rokeby to become pregnant, probably using Gillespie to get Leda close to him. Either Gillespie was part of the Strike clan or they had him in their pocket to coerce him into doing their bidding and hence acted as the link between Leda and Rokeby. All the while they used Shanker to keep her inline.
Some of the reasons that flesh this theory out:
CBS [Cormoran Blue Strike] was moved between London and Cornwall, Leda would have preferred CBS to stay in Cornwall but was only allowed there when Rokeby was away stateside or on major tours. Whenever he was back in the UK Leda would collect him and hide him amongst the squats. Probably always warned by Gillespie.
She took him to see Rokeby when CBS was seven, at first they were not allowed in until a ‘manager’ allowed them in, probably Gillespie. They set up the row to attract Rokeby so that he could finally see CBS, as the argument over money raged, CBS was upset and Rokeby called this a mistake, I think he meant this as he did not want to see CBS upset. CBS hoped that Rokeby would contact him, but unbeknown to CBS he tried but he was kept away to put pressure on for more money. Hence raising his hatred for Rokeby which I’m sure the Strike family encouraged.
CBS’s Aunt Joan knew something of this and was going to tell him when they got together at Christmas [in Troubled Blood]. Unfortunately her cancer was too aggressive and she did not want to antagonise him so close to death, she really wanted to hear him express his love for her which allowed her to die in peace.
Shanker is key to this theory, he was only known to CBS as ‘Shanker’ which is cockney slang for ‘banker.’ With Shanker’s nickname for CBS as ‘Bunsen’. ‘Bunsen burner’ is cockney slang for ‘earner’ as in ‘money earner.’ ‘Bunse’ is cockney slang for ‘money.’ Hence Shanker was there to keep the ‘money’ safe.
We hear that Shanker got wounded in a fight, with Leda taking him in, probably the fight was to stop people making a grab for CBS. Shanker still keeps this relationship the same by not doing anything for CBS with getting an ‘earner’ from it. You notice many conversations between Shanker and CBS start with Shanker mentioning putting flowers on Leda’s grave.
Rokeby never managed to get to CBS until he applied to Oxford, I think Rokeby used his influence to get him a place, he also proposed to pay, but as we know CBS has been raised to believe his father ignored him, hence the barrier set in his mind against him. Rokeby was also there to offer help when CBS was injured and when with money to begin his detective agency, unfortunately this was dealt with through Gillespie as CBS would not meet his father.
Through all the novels so far Rokeby siblings and Rokeby himself have tried to explain, but none are close enough to CBS to gain his confidence.. The only person who will be able to do this is Robin who CBS trusts.
While Robin is dating Murphy, who’s CID area is the Eastend, he will probably know of Shanker, but by his real name, and will mention his real name in conversation. Robin’s ears will prick up at the name and after a photo will realise who Shanker is and will solve the back story with CBS’s help once she’s convinced him. Once CBS knows the truth he will require therapy to clear the mental barrier of his upbringing, this is where Robin will use Prudence to help him.
CBS will finally come to terms with his place in the world and settle to a more conventional lifestyle with Robin including children
I look forward to the many reasons while this theory cannot work, or any enhancements.
Three Things to Like About This Theory:
- Means, Motive, and Metaliterary Reasons Checklist: As I reviewed in my ‘Bad Dads and Peter Gillespie’ post, whoever killed Leda Strike, assuming that Cormoran is right and that it wasn’t a suicide or accidental death by overdose, has to have the ‘3Ms.’ If I understand Gary James’ theory — he doesn’t spell this out explicitly — Leda is killed by Gillespie and Shanker on the orders oi the Strike Family Syndicate because, with her oldest son’s departure for Oxford, she will no longer be receiving Rokeby child support payments. She knows too much to be allowed to live. The Syndicate provides Shanker with an alibi, he does his best to frame Whittaker, and, one hopes, Gillespie does the deed (because making Shanker kill his own mother is quite the stretch, no?). This satisfies ‘Means’ and ‘Motive’ — and having Rokeby turn out to be a Good Dad qua Jonathan/Johnny and Gillespie the Bad Dad as ‘Peter’ lines up Rowling-Galbraith’s touchstones, and, with Shanker the older brother revealed as the murderer, we have the necessary parallels with Strike 1 and the blow-your-mind revelation to Strike that he has misunderstood everything about his life all of his life.
- Leda’s First Marriage Mystery: Rokeby’s comment to Strike on the phone in Troubled Blood about all of his mother’s “fucking men” is curious. It and the evidence that he was a good father to most of his children and has reconciled with the rest except for Cormoran points to the possibility that Leda dumped Jonny, not the reverse, and did what she could to keep her son away from his famous daddy. The Strike Family Syndicate Theory provides an explanation for why she did this; she lived as a dependent of her very dangerous first husband who set up the Rokeby ‘Pregnancy Trap’ and, through Gillespie, took his cut of the child support money. The ‘Shanker Strike’ piece of this theory works by adjust it just a bit. Imagine that Leda’s first son was cut up and left bleeding to death for her to find as a message from the mafia daddy to her of what will happen to her children if she doesn’t play along nicely with the Rokeby extortion. To her credit, Leda never spilled the beans to Cormoran and Lucy lest they try to save her and wind up dead.
- The Names! Is there a resource online for London rhyming slang? I’d really like to see a dictionary citation that confirms James’ explanations of ‘Shanker’ and ‘Bunsen,’ which, if true, really is a fun support to this theory. The clincher, of course, will be if, as James predicts, Murphy meets Shanker in the Strike offices, recognizes him from his police work, and tells Robin his real name. If it’s ‘Strike,’ ‘Nancarrow,’ or ‘Harringay,’ the game is up. I love that Strike’s lack of curiosity about Shanker’s identity and the meaning of ‘Bunsen’ his own fraternal nickname may be one reason for his blindness with respect to Rokeby and life with Leda as a child.
Three Problems With This Theory:
- The Nancarrows in Cornwall: If James is right and Aunt Joan (and Uncle Ted?) knew about the Strike Family Syndicate’s hold on Leda as their conduit to Rokeby money, why wouldn’t they have explained this to him after her death? Why would Red Cap veteran Ted Nancarrow not have been suspicious about the Syndicate using Whittaker as their designated murderer rather than just blaming witless Jeff? The only reasons I can think of for their participation in this decades long fraud are (1) not wanting to reveal why Leda ran off with her first husband (being sexually molested as a teen by her Nancarrow father) and (2) not wanting to lose Cormoran to his more famous father, i.e., it suited them that he hated Rokeby. Both reasons are anything but flattering if true so I find this a sticking point. No doubt, Uncle Ted’s dementia will provide an opening for the truth to come out, whatever it is, before his death.
- The Breadth of Strike’s Blindspot: Just as this ‘nothing is what it seemed!’ revelation checks the box of ‘Metaliterary Reasons’ for a creditable Leda killer, it also may be a step too far. Strike is a truth seeker and avenger of mythic proportion; are we really to think that he could have been so wondrously oblivious about the circumstances of his conception and upbringing? If we accept that his Oedipal rage consequent to childhood disappointment with Rokeby prevented him from ever reaching out to him after getting a loan to start the Agency, I guess we are obliged to believe that, yes, he could have overlooked any similarity in appearance between Shanker and his biological mother Leda, never pursued — not even a Google search for? — his mother’s first husband and the origin of his surname, not to mention the circumstances of their marriage and divorce, and that his gypsy existence as a child and teen (whence his nickname from Polworth) came up not once ever in Cornwall as a serious point of conversation. That’s asking a lot, however clueless the detective always looking for clues has proven to be about his personal life.
- Rokeby’s Helplessness: A premise of this theory is that Rokeby was unable to find his illegitimate son though he wanted to see him, or, along the same lines, that he didn’t contact the boy in order to protect him somehow. This only makes sense if the rock star feared for his life from the Strike Crime Syndicate, that he knew all about the set-up and extortion consequent to Leda’s setting him up for the paternity suit and child support payments. As I suggested in my post about the late Marianne Faithfull, the Jagger girlfriend who left him, if the Rokeby:Jagger::Leda:Faithfull analogy holds, she may have been the heart breaker in the relationship though he seemingly was the power-holder. Again, though, was Rokeby so afraid of being murdered by the Syndicate years after Leda’s death and Cormoran’s independence that he doesn’t make a real effort to speak to his son until the Deadbeat lead singer faces death by cancer?
There’s more, of course. I like Troubled Blood as the turning point of the ten book series because I think it is the best thing Rowling has written to date (with the possible exceptions of Christmas Pig and Deathly Hallows) so the return of the Harringay Crime Syndicate and the mysterious case of Strike’s testimony against their boss just before being blown up in Afghanistan would be a great loose-string tie-up and ring resonant parallel in the story-turn with the latch of Strikes 1 and 10.
But I’ll stop with three and ask you to share the good and the bad you see in this ‘Who Killed Leda?’ theory with its involved backdrop!
