I just finished reading The Cuckoo's Calling, written by J.K. Rowling under the nom de plume, Robert Galbraith. It was an okay read. It could have been better. I'd give it a three or four star rating out of five.
The plot of the novel was complex, which I considered a plus. It was also almost believable, which was also good. A super-model plunges to her death from a balcony and Cormoran Strike, the novel's hero, is hired by her brother to find the killer. The characters of the novel are all extreme in one way or another, and the plot requires many, many quirks of luck and timing to work, but it does work. It works well enough to have held my interest despite the turgid writing in far too many passages.
In my personal taxonomy, there are two types of crime novels: (1) mysteries and (2) detective stories. The first category comprises the works of such authors as Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, and Ellery Queen; the second category includes Mickey Spillane, Lew Archer, Travis McGee, et al. Rex Stout's Nero Wolf novels fall more into category (1) than category (2).
The Cuckoo's Calling is mostly in category (2). The reader follows Cormoran Strike but doesn't quite know why the detective is doing what he is doing; we are left without some information, much of which he only guesses at until he can acquire some confirmation. But it is a good detective story.
I nearly didn't read past the first 50 pages or so, though. The reading is a hard slog, especially early in the novel. The writing reminds me of all those prissy assignments we had in high school English classes where we had to fluff things up by adding tonnes of description. Maybe Rowling was trying to describe the scene for whomever does the screenplay, but it was boooorrrrrriiinnngg. With a good edit to chop out all the drivel and meaningless, useless verbiage, The Cuckoo's Calling would be a solid 4 or 4.5 star airport novel.
If you read it, don't be afraid to skip the verbiage. It adds nothing.
Disclaimer of sorts? Believe it or not, this is the first and only thing I have read by Rowling.