FROM BOOK TO BOOKIES

The former Sky frontman turns detective in hunt for Arc clues

- ROBERT COOPER

One of the drawbacks of not working so frequently I don't like to call it total retirement, after all I sweat blood in front of a blank screen every month for this admirable publication, is not being able to spend so much time hooked to my latest audiobook choice whilst motoring to the track.

Amongst all the grimacing faces marooned on the motorways, is my smiling mug, tuned in - hook, line and sinker to a typically compelling narration - sometimes fact, but usually fiction. We need some escapism nowadays.

My latest listen is the latest Cormoran Strike mystery, The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith, the nom de plume of JK Rowling. I'm not a Harry Potter fan but JK's latest blockbuster is a cracker as the private detective and his astute accomplice Robin Ellacott investigate the goings-on of a very dubious religious cult - aren't they all? You may have watched the TV series; one-legged Strike played by Tom Burke, with Holliday Grainger as Robin, his business partner, although there is a smouldering romantic connection that adds a touch of romance to the exhilarating plot. I am nearing the conclusion of this 34-hour marathon - that's a non-stop drive from Chipping Norton to Moscow.

Nearer to home, I recently bundled Strike, Ellacott and the excellent narrator Robert Glennister into into my car for a trip to Salisbury races, a journey sadly truncated by a monsoon causing the fixture to be cancelled. I got within striking distance of the track when I stopped in a lay-by, imitating a small harbour; a six-point turn later, I was on the way home. No races but plenty of twists in the epic.