# Hallmarked Man vs the First Seven Cormoran Strike Novels (1)

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/rowling-studies-the-hogwarts-professor-podcast-6739232/hallmarked-man-vs-the-first-seven-cormoran-strike-novels-1.md
Podcast: [Rowling Studies The Hogwarts Professor Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/rowling-studies-the-hogwarts-professor-podcast-6739232)
Published: 2025-11-03T13:20:02+00:00
Episode link: https://hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/p/hallmarked-man-vs-the-first-seven
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/177752584/070d1744ff994a8b384c616fc224ac2a.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rowling-studies-the-hogwarts-professor-podcast-6739232/episodes/hallmarked-man-vs-the-first-seven-cormoran-strike-novels-1
Duration seconds: 5050

## Resource

Nick Jeffery and John Granger do a Compare and Contrast test of the latest Cormoran Strike novel, The Hallmarked Man , and the previous seven books in Rowling-Galbraith’s longest series of novels. Adapting a list of ‘Greatest Hits’ moments from the first ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast John did with Katie McDaniel and a panel of Potter Pundits in Roanoke, Virginia, Nick and John share their favorite moments first from the series and then from Strike 8 before contrasting the quality of these highlights. The point of the exercise? Besides being a fun review of Strike-Ellacott adventures, a Greatest Hits collection of their highs and lows, Agency cases and sub-contractors included, the absence of any Hallmarked Man moments that merit a ‘Best in Series’ badge suggests that Strike 8 will be remembered best for how it set up Strikes 9 and 10. Whatever your thoughts about that thesis, please share the scenes on your Greatest Hits list, both for the series and Hallmarked Man , per the numbered categories below. Nick and John have a few more to run through that they couldn’t get to on their first ‘go’ at this; feel free to share categories they should discuss in addition to the ones listed here: * Top Strike-Ellacott Moments * Ellacott taking care of wrecked Strike * Strike taking care of wrecked Ellacott * The Two having a frank conversation about the Agency, their vocation * The Two having a frank conversation about life and their relationship * Top Mystery Reveal * Top Agency Subcontractor moment * Top Agency case not the focus of the novel * Top Strike Confront-the-Killer moment, * Top “Magical” Moment (heart-rending/opening) * Top Moment-that-We-didn’t-know-was-a-Moment-until-later * Top Saving People Moment John is working on his charting of Hallmarked Man for the pai…

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## Transcript

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