Episode Description
Nick Jeffery read Robert Browning’s The Ring and the Book, a Victorian epic poem about a murder mystery in 17th Century Italy, to test a theory. John Granger’s best guess after surveying the chapter headings of Hallmarked Man last September was that, of all 77 sources for the 139 epigraphs in Strike8, Browning’s poem was the most likely to hold a secret message or special meaning inside it. John had said something similar about another Browning poem and Ink Black Heart, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, and Nick had confirmed that through his own reading and confirmation by Rowling herself. He thought John’s track record of spotting important epigraph sources merited a test reading
.He published his findings on Friday in a post titled ‘The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading.’ In brief, the murder in Browning’s poem is a point-to-point model for the Ironbridge murder mystery in Hallmarked Man with characters in Rowling-Galbraith’s book — most notably, Chloe Griffiths, Tyler Powell, and Ian Griffiths — having their astonishing equivalents in Ring. The less obvious but more important links between the two are in their implicit feminism and other messages:
Both works critique abusive relationships and patriarchal power: Guido’s control of Pompilia and Dino Longcaster’s control of Decima Mullins. The legal system (Books 8–9 especially) is satirized as formalistic, pedantic, and often blind to moral reality. True justice requires personal moral intuition beyond mere evidence or procedure. The Pope’s monologue (Book 10) weighs this tension most profoundly. In The Hallmarked Man the police are slow to act on new information gained by Strike and Robin and Farah Navabi manages to hoodwink the courts into escaping punishment for her part in Patterson’s crimes.
The Ring and The Book dramatizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. Pompilia embodies instinctive purity, sacrificial love, and spiritual insight despite her suffering. Guido represents sophisticated, calculating evil that twists morality to justify cruelty. Browning affirms that evil exists but that good can somehow arise from or shine through evil’s consequences. In The Hallmarked Man evil is real, monstrous, and often cloaked in normalcy or power structures, but it can be exposed and defeated through persistence, intuition, and moral courage.
Nick also discusses in this article the chiastic structure of Ring (!) and the ‘conversation’ he heard between Robert Browning in this poem with Aurora Leigh, the masterpiece by his late wife. His ‘Rowling Reading’ of Ring and the Book, consequently, will soon be a touchstone piece not only in Rowling Studies but Browning Studies as well (#ArmstrongBrowningLibraryAndMuseum @ Baylor).
As they have done before with Nick’s ‘Rowling Reading’ articles. the Hogwarts Professor team recorded their conversation about the piece (listen to their discussions of I Capture the Castle and Aurora Leigh). Seven High Points of that Ring and the Book epigraph conversation include:
* Nick’s review of why Serious Strikers and Rowling Readers should read The Ring and the Book along with the story of his immersion in it;
* John’s explanation of why he was so confident that Browning’s poem was a template of some kind for Hallmarked Man even though only six of Strike8’s 139 epigraphs were taken from it;
* Their survey of Rowling’s previous work with epigraphs — Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy all the way to Running Grave and Hallmarked Man — for works with similar embedded-in-the-epigraph texts and those without one (or in which it hasn’t yet been discovered);
* Nick’s discussion of Rowling’s previous comments about epigraphs and her answer to the question, ‘Which Came First, the Epigraph or the Story?’;
* John’s best guess pre-publication about the text that will be the epigraph source in Sleep Tight, Evangeline and which Strike text it will most resemble with its Whiskey Shambles title;
* Nick’s commitment to exploring Blue Oyster Cult epigraphs in Career of Evil to see if one of that band’s albums, all of which supposedly had sci-fi themes and story continuity, served as a text-within-the-text for Strike3; and
* John’s suggestion that the relationship of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, a great love with a shared vocation, might be a point of reflection for Serious Strikers as a template for understanding the Strike-Ellacott partnership.
Nick and John will be recording their group charting of Hallmarked Man’s Part Eight this week with Sandy Hope and Ed Shardlow (and Presvytera Lois?), a survey of readers is in the works, and the long-awaited close look at the Strike series in light of the Cupid and Psyche myth draws ever nearer. Stay tuned!
The Ten Questions, Epigraph Charting, and Links to Previous Epigraph Discussions Here and Elsewhere:
The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading, Nick Jeffery, February 2026
Intro to Epigraphs 101, John Granger, September 2022
The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center, John Granger, October 2022
A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh, Nick Jeffery, November 2025
Beatrice Grove’s Pillar Post Page at HogwartsProfessor.com
* Scroll down for Prof Groves’ posts about epigraphs and literary allusion in Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm, Troubled Blood, and Ink Black Heart
Lethal White: Ibsen’s ‘Rosmersholm’, John Granger, December 2018
Rowling, Dylan Thomas, and the I Ching: Three Thoughts on Strike7’s Epigraphs, John Granger, April 2023
‘Deathly Hallows’ and Penn’s ‘Fruits of Solitude,’ John Granger, October 2008
The Aeschylus Epigraph in ‘Deathly Hallows,’ John Granger, October 2008
Maid of the Silver Sea Epigraphs: Louise Freeman Davis’ Collected Posts, 2025
The Faerie Queene Epigraphs in Troubled Blood
* Scroll down the Troubled Blood Pillar Post for the Faerie Queene commentary by Beatrice Groves, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy and John Granger
Robert-Galbraith.com Posts about the Epigraphs in Each Book
* Hallmarked Man’s Epigraphs: The Poetry
* Hallmarked Man’s Epigraphs: The Prose
* Scroll Down the site’s ‘Features’ Page for all the other Epigraph Posts
Agents of Fortune: The Blue Oyster Cult Story, Martin Popoff, May 2016
Pompilia: A Feminist Reading Of Robert Browning’S The Ring And The Book, Anne Brady, May 1988
Roman Murder Mystery: The True Story of Pompilia, Derek Parker, January 2001
Sleep Tight, Evangeline: Nick Jeffery and John Granger talk with Dimitra Fimi
Hallmarked Man Epigraphs: The Tally Sheet
Matthew Arnold: 17 poems, 25 epigraphs, 6 from Merope: A Tragedy
* 3, 17, 52, 103, 108, 110 (Merope), 21, 33, 68, 38, 97, 41, 45, 59, 58, 69, 73, 76, 80, 86, 96, 106, 119, 122, 124
Robert Browning: 26 poems, 38 epigraphs including frontispiece, 6 from The Ring and the Book
* 44, 75, 62, 64, 102, 118 (Ring and Book), frontispiece, 2, 9, 11, 107, 13, 16, 20, 26, 28, 32, 35, 37, 114, 39, 42, 93, 44, 75, 47, 51, 62, 64, 67, 116, 71, 77, 79, 84, 87, 120, 90, 91, 100, 102, 109, 118, 126
A. E. Housman: 5 works, 25 poems, 28 epigraphs, 10 from Last Poems
* 1, 5, 7, 53, 19, 92, 56, 65, 74, 105 (Last Poems), 23, 30, 34, 36, 40, 43, 46, 49, 57, 63, 78, 82, 89, 94, 98, 112, 115, 125
John Oxenham: 1 work, 26 epigraphs
* Parts 1-10, Epilogue, 15, 18, 22, 25, 27, 55, 60, 66, 83, 85, 88, 95, 111, 113, 127 (Maid of the Silver Sea)
Albert Pike: 3 works (?), 22 epigraphs, 16 from Morals and Dogma
* 4, 16, 12, 121 (Liturgy), 8, 10, 14, 29, 31, 48, 50, 54, 61, 70, 81, 99, 101 (Morals and Dogma), 24, 72 (Ancient and Accepted Rite?)
Most epigraphs: Robert Browning
Frontispiece: Robert Browning
Most from one poem: Tie, Robert Browning 6 Ring and Book, Matthew Arnold 6 Merope: A Tragedy
Most from one novel: John Oxenham 26 Maid of the Silver Sea
Most from one didactic or discursive argument: Albert Pike 22 (24?) Morals and Dogma
Conclusions: Ring and Book your best bet as template, Re-read Maid of the Silver Sea, read Merope: A Tragedy
Tally Sheet of Epigraphs for Ink Black Heart:
Poet: epigraph numbers, (total)
* Christina Rossetti: 8, 14, 22, 24, 25, 35, 38, 50, 52, 54, 56, 84, 86, 90, 98, 103, 105, 107 (18)
* Elizabeth Barrett Browning: 12, 21, 33, 39, 42, 45, 47, 58, 67, 71, 72, 82, 96, 101, 102, 104 (16; all but #s 21 and 58 from ‘Aurora Leigh’)
* Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: Book, 1, 18, 20, 49, 79, 81, 91, 93, 94, 106 (11)
* Emily Dickinson: 11, 31, 53, 58, 59, 65, 70, 76, 99 (8)
* Charlotte Mew: 16, 17, 40, 55, 66, 92, 95 (7)
* Felicia Hemans: 6, 10, 15, 63, 100 (5)
* Amy Levy: 7, 23, 32, 80, 85 (5)
* Jean Ingelow: 9, 27, 29, 37, 64 (5)
* LEL!: 62, 68, 69, 83 (4); see also Rossetti 52 ‘LEL’)
* Mary Tighe: 36 (Psyche), 43, 60, 88 (4)
* Helen Hunt Jackson: 4, 87, 89 (3)
* Joanna Baillie: 13, 21, 34 (3)
* Augusta Webster: 44, 48, 51 (3)
* Emily Pfeiffer: 3, 75 (2)
* Charlotte Bronte: 19, 74 (2)
* Adah Isaacs Menken: 30, 57 (2)
* Constance Naden: 41, 46 (2)
* Mathilda Blind: 61, 97 (2)
* Mary Kendall: 73, 77 (2)
* Martha Jane Jewsbury: 2 (‘To My Own Heart’)
* Anne Evans: 28
* ‘Michael Field’ (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper): 78
The Heart and Vision epigraphs in Ink Black Heart by chapter number:
* Heart: 20, 106 (MEC); 21, 67; 52, 107; 68, 85; 2; 63, 80, 85; 17, 40, 55, 95 (Mew); 19, 74; 27; 30; 36, 60; 87 (23)
* Vision: Frontispiece, 1, 49, 81 (MEC); 22, 25, 38, 90, 98 (CR); 59; 3; 34; 95; 57; 88; 48; 46 (17)
Tally Sheet of Epigraphs for Cuckoo’s Calling:
* Frontispiece: Rossetti -- A Dirge
* Prologue: Lucius Accius, Telephus
* Part One: Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
* Part Two: Virgil, Aeneid
* Part Three: Virgil, Aeneid
* Part Four: Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis
* Part Five: Virgil, Georgics
* Epilogue: Horace, Odes
* [Closing Poem: Tennyson, Ulysses]
Brackets/Latch: 19th Century English poets (see Groves)
Most epigraphs: Virgil (3); no other author has more than one
Most frequently referenced work: Aeneid (2), shades in Ulysses
Center of Chiasmus: Aeneid (true if ring has 5, 8, or 9 parts)
Turtleback lines: Not evident in authors list, perhaps in meanings of specific epigraphs
Conclusions:
* Read Aeneid to look for Cuckoo’s parallels;
* Study epigraphs to look for parallels
Online Literature Review for ‘Epigraphs of Cuckoo’s Calling:‘
https://robert-galbraith.com/epigraphs-of-the-cuckoos-calling/
* 2025 connecting the dots between epigraphs and chapter set to follow (generic)
* No mention of Strike as Aeneas
https://strikefans.com/the-cuckoos-calling-epigraphs/
* Reprinting of epigraphs without commentary
* No mention of Strike as Aeneas
https://thesefilespod.com/blog/the-cuckoos-calling-epigraphs/
* Includes a very helpful link to The Rowling Library and an article there about the ‘real world’ crime serving as a template for the Landry murder
* No mention of Strike as Aeneas
* Brilliant discussion of the Rossetti poem but curiously without reference to resurrection meaning
* No mention of Strike as Aeneas
* Brilliant discussion of Strike as Ulysses
* No mention of Strike as Aeneas, curious becauseh Virgil models Aeneas on Ulysses
The Ten Questions of This Conversation (Sort Of!)
1, (Nick) So, John, I finally wrote up my findings about The Ring and the Book as the story template for Hallmarked Man’s murder mystery and, as we did with my posts about Aurora Leigh and I Capture the Castle, let’s talk about it, expanding on the correspondences between the Browning poem and Strike 8. The natural place to begin is with your guess about Ring and the Book being a template based on your tally of the Hallmarked Man epigraphs, a theory you shared on our first show post-publication. Can you explain your process and what made you so confident about Ring and the Book?
2. (John) Looking at that tally, then, Arnold’s Merope and Oxenham’s Maid of the Silver Sea are quantitatively more likely equivalents to Aurora Leigh in Ink Black Heart, but the Browning frontispiece, number of his epigraphs, the hidden quality of the Ring and Book poem titles, and the relationship with Barrett Browning made it seem the most likely. That the poem is considered one of the great feminist tracts written by a man didn’t hurt. I still want to go back to the Arnold poem, though, because of the centrality of his epigraphs in the center Parts and Oxenham deserves a re-read, too, or just a trip to Louise Freeman Davis site, the home of Oxenham Studies online. What struck me while reading your post, Nick, was in the correspondences you found between Ring and the Book and Hallmarked Man. Can you give us the highlights of that?
3. (Nick) The Ironbridge murder mystery, then, is largely lifted from the death of Pompilia. Which is unusual isn’t it? Has Rowling-Galbraith ever used her epigraphs to point to the template of her story?
4. (John) I think, then, that at least four of the previous Strike novels give us the embedded template, per Beatrice Groves The White Divel and The Revenger’s Tragedy (and even Hamlet) gives us important clues about The Silkworm crime, Rosmersholm and its incestuous backdrop inform the murder of Lethal White, the Janus deceiver in Faerie Queene should have been a give-away about the poisoner in Troubled Blood, and, as Rowling confirmed and you demonstrated Nick, Aurora Leigh is the working model for Ink Black Heart. I think the closest Rowling epigraph suggestions to story template was in the Rossetti poem that opens Cuckoo’s Calling and the Aeschylus epigraph in Deathly Hallows. What has Rowling said, though, about her epigraph sources? Do they precede the novels or follow the writing?
5. (Nick) So it’s not one or the other, I think, that is, she has a template in mind and if the source doesn’t have sufficient quotable pieces to serve a epigraphs for the whole book, she uses other sources from the genre in play or that highlight her central theme (cf., the Gray’s Anatomy heart epigraphs in tandem with the hearty women Victorian poets in Ink Black). What I’m struck by here, though, is the shift in importance of epigraphs to Rowling-Galbraith. The numbers are startling, no, between Cuckoo and Hallmarked?
6. (John) Not only do we see a jump from eight or nine epigraphs in Strike1 to 139 in Stike8, but Team Rowling is pushing readers to think more seriously about them by posting reviews of the epigraphs in each book, drawing the dot-to-dot correspondences. I confess the Strike novel whose epigraphs are not like the others, Nick, is Career of Evil and its Blue Oyster Cult lyrics. You’ve been reading a book about Blue Oyster Cult so I’ll defer to you in this despite my great fondness for heavy metal groups with sci-fi themed lyrics...
7. (Nick) What about the book we haven’t got in hand, John: Sleep Tight, Evangeline? We have been told -- sort of! -- the title is from a 2014 song from an American blues band called ‘The Whiskey Shambles.’ Which of the previous epigraph models Rowling has used, from Deathly Hallows to Hallmarked Man, do you think we’ll be seeing in Strike9? What are your thoughts on that, especially as the best link we have for Sleep Tight, Evangeline is from a rock and blues band?
8. (John) So I hope that we’re going to see another Running Grave type epigraph experience in Evangeline, though Grave was unique among Rowling novels and their epigraphs in not having a story-book, poem, or play as its primary source. The I Ching, cannot be a story-template per se because it is a divination tool or means to reflection. Unless you think Pike’s Morals and Dogmas Freemasonry encyclopedia qualifies as an equivalent of sorts to the I Ching? That’s another outlier, isn’t it?
9. (Nick) To put a Fourth Generation focus on this, John, we should be looking for a technique that Serious Readers can use for Sleep Tight, Evangeline to hunt for the embedded source if its hidden as were Aurora Leigh and The Ring and the Book. You’ve found the ones no one else noticed in Ink Black Heart and Hallmarked Man, how did you do that and do you think the same method will work for Cuckoo and Career as well as Evangeline?
10. (John) So, yes, I found them but you had the first confirmed by Mrs Murray and then connected the dots between the Browning poems and Rowling’s work. If this method is going to work on Cuckoo, Career, and Evangeline it will have to involve a spotter and a shooter, though they can be the same person. The spotter technique is nothing but grunt work; chart the epigraphs used and spot the author most frequently referenced and the work of theirs most frequently cited. The shooter work is actually a lot more involved and interesting; tell us about your experiences with the two Browning’s’ epic poems, that thrill of discovering correspondences. Do you think that excitement is something Rowling is offering her readers a a treasure hunt or as a point of reflection in terms of meaning?
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