A follow up for you today on the rumor that author J.K. Rowling is currently writing a mystery novel. While reps for Jo are quoted in a new article in The Times as saying “we do not have a definite plan of what her next project is yet,” there is more from author Ian Rankin and now noted mystery author P.D.James has weighed in on this matter. UPDATE: The Guardian is now reporting that Mr. Rankin is calling this “a joke that got out of hand,” said Rankin, describing how the remark was made on stage during the course of a festival event. There were 600 people in the audience, and only one person didn’t laugh,” he added.. Emma Schlesinger, speaking for Rowling’s literary agent, Christopher Little, was keen to stress that the crime novel rumours were “unfounded”.”JK Rowling is taking a well-earned break following the English language publication of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows and there are no firm plans as yet as to what her next book may be,” she said.
Readers will remember that it was comments first from Ian Rankin, who is a long time neighbor of JKR in Edinburgh, Scotland, which spurred this latest flurry of rumors on the prospect of a forthcoming mystery novel. Over the weekend Ian Rankin said
“My wife spotted her writing her Edinburgh criminal detective novel,” he said. He declined to elaborate on how he knew about Rowling’s new direction, but conceded he had not discussed it personally with her. He added: “It is great that she has not abandoned writing or Edinburgh cafes.”
Today Mr. Rankin is cited in the Times article as saying more about Jo’s writing style, noting “Her process is classic crime writing – the set-up, the red herrings, the characters who change as they are revealed, the twists and turns, and finally the big lineup at the end.”
Author P.D. James is also very complimentary about Jo, saying her skills as a writer would work well in the mystery genre.
PD James, 87, creator of the Adam Dalgleish mysteries, said she saw no reason why Rowling should not become a successful crime writer. “She certainly has all the skills,” James said. “She is immensely popular with adults and children. She has done a great service to literature by encouraging children to read on that scale. It is a huge achievement to get children queuing for books in the numbers they do.”
While this is all very exciting, please keep this very much in the rumor category for now.
A JOKE. Given the context, it was fairly obvious. Not everyone is always going to get the joke, and not everyone is always going to appreciate the joke (a throwaway, really, not like he was up all night writing a killer punch line!), but really, folks, use some Skele-Gro and grow a funny bone.
What concerns me more is all of these writers saying that she has all the skills to be a crime writer, as if this were the loftiest genre to which she could aspire. I don’t want to bash the genre. I’ve read some good and some popular mysteries (the two do not always coincide!). I just think Jo has MUCH more to offer the future of literature than a few volumes on the mystery shelf of the local library. Whatever she decides to write, I’ll be devouring it eagerly.
The person just wanted to see a flood of tourist show up to all the cafes or coffee shops looking for JKR writing. It would improve the economy and see if Rita Skeeter still had her following.
Just a note, I know who Rankin is, I read the article didn’t {really I read both of them and the got the point a crossed just fine} and it does not change my mind. Even if this was a joke, it is not funny. All he managed to do is get a ton of people dogging Jo asking if it is true or false and whatnot else. I tend to go with the guy who figured out that Rankin put that out right about the time he put out the title of his new book, so that the press would be paying attention to him aka pining for attention.
First of all, I think it’d be great if Rowling did write a crime/mystery—she is good at that sort of thing.
But I think Rankin is right—it’s a joke that took on a life of its own. Probably the one person in the audience who didn’t laugh, no doubt. Or the people who were later told the joke and took it seriously and ran to some reporter.
What it really shows is that the reporters need to do a better job of checking out their stories. If Rowling’s publicists weren’t giving out any information, then it seems logical to me that they should have tried, as the Guardian did, to interview the source of the rumor. The failure on the part of The Times is really the cause of the problem. Had they written the same story as the Guardian, I doubt that any other news media would have bothered much with it.
When it made our local news, I said to my husband that I’d believe it when Jo posts it on her own site. Otherwise, I’m not going to bite.
And I don’t see it as a publicity stunt by Rankin. As others have said, people who read his books likely already knew he had a new one coming out. After all, Stephen King wrote a whole article just about Deathly Hallows (very interesting, btw), and no one is accusing him of trying to ride on Jo’s coat tails.
Whatever she’s writing now, it’s spot on to describe her storytelling as “classic crime writing”.
I love that style of story and it’s a large part of my love of the HP series. I’ve never enjoyed fantasy novels, which are so cloying in comparison to the clean classic crime genre of which PD James is one of my favorites.
PS – I guess I’ll have to check out Rankin now! I’ve been to Edinburgh a few times and could easily see it as a setting for detective genre.
PPS – If Jo does write a crime series, she could also use a pen name, which is quite common in that genre. Heck! One could say that “JK Rowling” is a pen name!
PPPS – Really, I recommend to those of you, who think the suggestion that Jo write a crime novel is a put-down, read PD James’ Adam Dalgliesh series. They’re brilliant.
"Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights... I've been stuck
A JOKE. Given the context, it was fairly obvious. Not everyone is always going to get the joke, and not everyone is always going to appreciate the joke (a throwaway, really, not like he was up all night writing a killer punch line!), but really, folks, use some Skele-Gro and grow a funny bone.
What concerns me more is all of these writers saying that she has all the skills to be a crime writer, as if this were the loftiest genre to which she could aspire. I don’t want to bash the genre. I’ve read some good and some popular mysteries (the two do not always coincide!). I just think Jo has MUCH more to offer the future of literature than a few volumes on the mystery shelf of the local library. Whatever she decides to write, I’ll be devouring it eagerly.