For such a well-known author like J.K. Rowling it’s no wonder that she eventually took on a pseudonym. This way she might be able to avoid the pressure of having to deliver another Harry Potter with every new release. "The Casual Vacancy" was her first publication since the Potter series and left many fans disappointed. I’m not sure what they expected but needless to say, she's probably proven a point by taking using the name Robert Galbraith on the first installment in a new crime detective series, "The Cuckoo’s Calling."
Here is the synopsis for The Cuckoo's Calling [via amazon]:
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man. You may think you know detectives, but you’ve never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you’ve never seen them under an investigation like this.
The detective novel is now in development over at BBC One; the network commissioned an adaptation that will be produced by the same outfit people behind the BBC adaptation of Rowling’s "The Casual Vacancy" as well. It’s still in the very early stages, so we don’t know how many episodes are being asked for and how long each will be.
From what I hear The Cuckoo's Calling is said to be pretty great; basically everything you would want from a detective novel is present. The fascinating private investigator Cormoran Strike has a drinking habit (obviously) and is brilliant at what he does. In the first novel, he finds himself investigating whether a supermodel’s death was a murder or a suicide. People looking forward to the adaption with no doubt be waiting to hear who’s playing Cormoran Strike; if you read any of the series so far, who do you think should play the PI?
Meanwhile, The Casual Vacancy miniseries is set to debut on HBO next year and Rowling recently wrote the screenplay for the upcoming HARRY POTTER spinoff film FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM.