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It's seeming increasingly likely that a new JK Rowling novel is to be set in Sark – with readers suggesting that the detective series' main character will visit the island while investigating a crime.
Cormoran Strike is a series of crime fiction novels written by Harry Potter author JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
The stories chronicle the cases of the fictional British private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott.
Seven novels in the series have so far been published, with the eighth currently in progress.
Pictured: To keep her writing post-Harry Potter separate from that phenomenally successful series, Ms Rowling chose 'Robert Galbraith' as her psuedonym.
Over the weekend, the crime series' author changed her social media account cover picture to show an image of La Coupee in Sark, sparking a series of rumours as to why she had done that.
With some people suggesting that Ms Rowling may be keen to buy some of the Barclay family properties that are up for sale in the island, or that she may have recently visited Sark on holiday, it is understood by many that she is instead using the island as inspiration for her writing.
Avid fans explained on social media that this is a common way for Ms Rowling to tease the location of her upcoming novels.
Myra Lind said: "No mystery. Based on previous form, this will be her way of teasing a location that will feature in her next Cormoran Strike novel."
When Ms Rowling chose to use the image of La Coupee on social media no one was more surprised than Guernsey photographer Chris George.
Just a day earlier, the photographer had shared what he thought was a Harry Potter-esque image of another iconic Guernsey building on his 'Georgie's Guernsey' social media page.
When he then saw the original story questioning why JK Rowling had used a photo of La Coupee on the Express website, he immediately recognised it as one of his own and checked his archives.
"I took that photo for Visit Guernsey on 18 June 2009," he confirmed.
"I was over there taking shots for Visit Guernsey. It was a beautiful hot summer day and I just walked around taking photos.
"There will be thousands of photos of La Coupee but I just recognised it and knew it was mine. I checked my archive and there it was!
"I'm delighted she's used it. It was taken for tourism purposes so it is a royalty free image and I'm quite happy it's been used. It might encourage other people to visit too."
Flattered that JK used one of my pictures, I'm still available for commissions ???? https://t.co/NlWYWg5p7X pic.twitter.com/54G0cF8bOt
— ℂ???????????????? ???????????????????????? ???? ???????????? (@GeorgieGuernsey) February 19, 2024
To keep her writing post-Harry Potter separate from that phenomenally successful series, Ms Rowling chose her alter ego to be Robert Galbraith based on a surname she had always liked and her favourite male name.
There are already seven books in the Galbraith 'Strike' series: The Running Grave, The Ink Black Heart, Troubled Blood, Lethal White, Career of Evil, The Silkworm, and The Cuckoo's Calling.
The most recent, The Running Grave, was published last year and told how Private Detective Cormoran Strike helped in the search for a missing man who had joined a religious cult.
Pictured: There are already seven books in the Galbraith 'Strike' series.
Some of the past Strike novels have involved mysteries around cold cases, and more recent murders and unexplained deaths.
The first five Strike novels have been adapted for television.
While many people across the Channel Islands were pleasantly surprised to see JK Rowling using an image of Sark on her social media accounts – visible to many millions of people – not everyone has been welcoming to her.
Some comments on the Express social media sites have accused the women's rights activist of being a 'TERF' – a 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist' – and warned her to "keep our islands out of her mouth".
Other people have supported her right to express her own personal views.
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