Prepare your bookshelf: J.K. Rowling has written another book as Robert Galbraith
Beautiful, brilliant sorceress J.K. Rowling recently tweeted that her “good friend,” Robert Galbraith’s, new novel, Career of Evil, will be published in October. This will be the third installment of the mystery-thriller series that began in The Cuckoo’s Calling and follows the damaged but genius detective Cormoran Strike.
I like to imagine that Ms. Rowling’s tweet about her “good friend” is hinting that she has a split-personality, or that she forgot she already revealed that Robert Galbraith is her pen name, under which she published Casual Vacancy, The Cuckoo’s Calling and its sequel, The Silkworm. But neither are probably true. The Harry Potter author discussed her dude pseudonym (dare I say, “dude-onymn?”) in 2013, sharing that she chose to write as a man, “to take my writing persona as far away as possible from me.” Translation: there are no wands in gritty detective novels.
Luckily, her writing is amazing as JK Rowling and as Robert Galbraith.
Rowling isn’t the only female author who has written under a male pen name. Plenty of women have shielded their true identity under a masculine guise. One of those reasons for this is sadly because novels written by men still have higher sales, and dudes are more likely to read books written by dudes. Ugh. Authors like the Bronte sisters, Willa Cather, and Louisa May Alcott have published work under masculine pen names for this very reason.
BUT, this doesn’t mean we’re still not excited for J.K.Rowling, I mean, Robert Galbraith’s new book. Career of Evil will hit shelves on October 20th in the U.S. and on the 22nd in the U.K. by Little Brown. According to the brief synopsis on its official site, the book begins with Detective Strike’s assistant, Robin Ellacott, receiving a severed leg in the mail. Um, sounds horrifying. Apparently, things only get darker as Strike and Robin investigate four suspects, each more brutal than the next. With a title like Career of Evil, it’s pretty clear this will be one to read with the lights on.
Little Brown calls the upcoming book, “A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.” Yes, I will take all of that with a side of fish ‘n’ chips, please. The company also released the cover designs, one for this side of the Atlantic, and the other for across the pond. Looks spooky and exhilarating!
Can’t wait to see what JK Rowling’s “good friend” will do next.
