Monday, August 20, 2007

Report: 'Harry Potter' author writing mystery novel


LONDON (AP) — J.K. Rowling has been spotted at cafes in Scotland working on a detective novel, a British newspaper reported Saturday.
The Sunday Times newspaper quoted Ian Rankin, a fellow author and neighbor of Rowling's, as saying the creator of the "Harry Potter" books is turning to crime fiction.

"My wife spotted her writing her Edinburgh criminal detective novel," the newspaper, which was available late Saturday, quoted Rankin as telling a reporter at an Edinburgh literary festival.

"It is great that she has not abandoned writing or Edinburgh cafes," said Rankin, who is known for his own police novels set in the historic Scottish city.

Rowling famously wrote initial drafts of the Potter story in the Scottish city's cafes. Back then, she was a struggling single mother who wrote in cafes to save on the heating bill at home.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Harry Potter | Scotland | J.K. Rowling | Edinburgh | British newspaper
Now she's Britain's richest woman — worth $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine — and her seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Rowling said she believed she was unlikely to repeat the success of the Potter series, but confirmed she had plans to work on new books.

"I'll do exactly what I did with Harry — I'll write what I really want to write," Rowling said.

The office of Rowling's literary agent, Christopher Little, was not immediately available to comment late Saturday.

1 comment:

Octopunk said...

Well, I hope her whodunnits have better clues than the mystery bits of the Potter books. Don't get me wrong, I love those books to death, but a lot of those plots involved mysteries that really couldn't be worked out in advance because the rules were still being laid down.

This is less true by the last book, which Julie will now probably point out she predicted a key part of. Very good, honey.

Salem's Lot 1979 and Salem's Lot 2024

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