L, B highlights strong first day sales for Rowling's Troubled Blood

Troubled Blood, the new book from Robert Galbraith aka J K Rowling, has shifted more copies in a day than Lethal White sold in its first week, according to publisher Little, Brown.

The fifth instalment in Rowling's crime series featuring Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott was published on Tuesday (15th September) and has been the centre of heated debate, particularly after an early review in the Telegraph claimed its "moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress", a deduction contested by other commentators. Re-inflaming the controversy over the author's views on gender, the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trended on Twitter and Amazon has said it is now limiting reviews to verified purchases only having "noticed unusual reviewing activity". 

Notwithstanding mixed reactions to the book, Little, Brown told The Bookseller that Troubled Blood has already sold 38,000 £20 hardbacks in the UK trade including pre-orders, a sales figure higher than the 35,000 copies sold in one week via Nielsen BookScan's UK TCM for predecessor Lethal White, which–bolstered by the BBC TV adaptation of the series–topped the bestseller lists. Total first day sales of Troubled Blood reached 100,000 copies across hardback, e-book and audio, with export figures still to come, the publisher said. 

In Troubled Blood, Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough, who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. The synopsis reads: "Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one 40 years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.

"As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly."

Across all editions through Nielsen BookScan, The Cuckoo's Calling has sold 518,834 copies, The Silkworm 306,393 copies, Career of Evil 270,359 copies and Lethal White 240,599 copies.