Characters in The Ink Black Heart

Cormoran Strike

Managing the most technically challenging investigation of his career while navigating the aftermath of the personal development in the previous novel.

Also in The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil, Lethal White, Troubled Blood, The Running Grave, The Hallmarked Man

Robin Ellacott

Taking on the deep online undercover work the investigation demands, a setting that plays to her research skills and her ability to think about identity and motivation.

Also in The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil, Lethal White, Troubled Blood, The Running Grave, The Hallmarked Man

Anomie

The anonymous online troll who has harassed Edie Ledwell for years through the fan game Drek's Game, and whose real identity drives the investigation.

Edie Ledwell

The murdered co-creator of The Ink Black Heart — her decision to approach Strike and the harassment campaign against her are reconstructed through the investigation's evidence.

Josh Blay

Edie Ledwell's ex-boyfriend and co-creator of the animated web series The Ink Black Heart, whose bitter split with her fed the online feud around the show.

Yasmin Weatherhead

A former employee of Edie and Josh, writing a book about the cartoon, who becomes a source for Robin as she looks into the show's fandom.

Madeline Courson-Miles

Strike's new girlfriend, whose link to his ex-fiancée Charlotte complicates his life while he works the case.