JK Rowling conjures up a plethora of fantastic new plots

JK ROWLING is in for a busy — and lucrative — few years.

For one thing, the author is writing the scripts for her planned five-film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series, the first of which will be released on November 18 (at a fan event last month, she announced that she’d just finished the script for the franchise’s second film).

Starring Eddie Redmayne — and, reportedly, Johnny Depp — the Fantastic Beasts movies exist in the same magical universe as the Harry Potter tales, but take place several years before, with the first instalment set in ’20s New York.

But while Rowling is loved for her intricate wizarding world — we’re every bit as loath to let it go as she apparently is — attention has recently turned to her series of detective novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

It was announced a few days ago that Holliday Grainger will star in a new BBC miniseries based on the books, alongside War and Peace actor Tom Burke, who will play Rowling’s war veteran and amputee turned private detective Cormoran Strike.

Grainger’s character, Robin Ellacott, is a temping private secretary who shows a flair for investigation, and persuades Strike to let her stay on and help with a possible murder case.

The series will be titled Cormoran Strike and will air in three separate parts, each based on one of Rowling’s three published detective novels: The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm and A Career of Evil. (A new book is expected next year.)

Those who still think of Rowling as an author primarily for children may be well shocked by the new Strike series.

To date, the books have featured disembowelled acidsoaked corpses, a chopped-up body whose leg is sent in the post, and a disturbing exploration of the world of amputee fetishism.