News article: JK Rowling publishes novel under pseudonym

So it seems JK Rowling doesn't need that touch of Harry Potter magic to sell books. She may have written the most successful series of all time, but she is also the author of a noteworthy novel published under the pen name of Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo's Calling is, tellingly, a bestseller without the readers' knowledge of its true author. When it was published in April this year, The Times Saturday Review said that Galbraith 'delivers sparkling dialogue and a convincing portrayal of the emptiness of wealth and glamour', and the author has achieved the accolade of comparisons with prestigious crime writers Ruth Rendall and PD James.

The book follows war veteran and private investigator Cormoran Strike as he begins interrogating a model's suicide and gets quickly immersed in an enigmatic world of crime and secrecy. It was The Sunday Times that identified The Cuckoo’s Calling as an unusually assured debut novel and decided to investigate its authorship. Upon discovery, Rowling told them: 'being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype and expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.'

Alas that she is now doomed to the same relentless judgment and critical scrutiny that was inflicted upon her when she released The Casual Vacancy, to a mixed reception, last year. That was by no means a flawless book (see my review here) but did not deserve the ferocious vilification it received from Jan Moir in The Daily Mail and others. The Cuckoo’s Calling is now likely to receive similar levels of attention. It has currently sold over 1,500 copies in hardback, a very respectable amount for an unknown author that would place it at around 30^th on the bestseller list; and of course, sales will now skyrocket with the breaking news of its true authorship.

On publisher Little Brown’s website, The Cuckoo’s Calling is listed as the beginning of a unique series of mysteries - the question is, will that series be thwarted by this discovery, or will it become a Harry Potter for grown-ups in the way The Casual Vacancy never could?

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PS I particularly like this review of The Cuckoo's Calling - it reads as if it could just as easily be about Harry Potter, complete with pun...

'Laden with plenty of twists and distractions, this debut ensures that readers will be puzzled and totally engrossed for quite a spell' (Library Journal)