J.K. Rowling Reveals Herself as Secret Author 'Robert Galbraith' of Acclaimed Detective Novel
J.K. Rowling, author of the hugely popular Harry Potter book series, has recently admitted that she is the author behind the newly acclaimed crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling.
The debut detective novel, which was released in April, was allegedly written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, who claimed to be a retired officer of the British Army.
The book's publisher, Mulholland Books, which is produced by Little, Brown and Company, described Galbraith on its website as a former member of the Special Investigative Branch of the Royal Military Police.
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"He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry," the publisher's website said.
"The idea for [protagonist] Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world. 'Robert Galbraith' is a pseudonym," the website added.
Although the novel did not receive much public attention, it received many positive reviews from critics, many of whom noted that the piece of work seemed too refined to be a debut novel.
Rowling said in a statement released by her publicist on Sunday that she enjoyed working under the pseudonym of Galbraith because it gave her artistic freedom from hype and expectation that follows her after her successful Harry Potter novels.
"I hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience," Rowling said in the statement, according to CNN.
"It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name," Rowling added.
Rowling went on to thank her editor, David Shelley, and those who helped publish the novel at Little, Brown and Co.
As MSN reports, Rowling decided to confess to writing the novel after The Sunday Times prompted an investigation to determine "how a first-time author with a background in the army and the civilian security industry could write such an assured debut novel."
The Sunday Times eventually discovered that both Rowling and Galbraith use the same agent and editor, and that a previous adult novel of Rowling's, The Casual Vacancy, was published by Little, Brown, and Co., which also published The Cuckoo's Calling.
Rowling has vowed to continue Galbraith's series, to the delight of many major critics, who hailed the crime detective's novel as a truly riveting piece of work.
Publishers Weekly gave the crime novel a star-studded review, saying that "Galbraith combines a complex and compelling sleuth and an equally well-formed and unlikely assistant with a baffling crime in his stellar debut."
Rowling has previously written all seven fantasy novels belonging to the Harry Potter series, as well as the novel The Casual Vacancy, also published by Little, Brown and Co. in 2012.
