Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling secretly posed as a retired military policeman to write a crime novel that has been hailed as one of the best debut detective stories in years.

Rowling wrote "The Cuckoo's Calling" under the name Robert Galbraith and kept up the pretense that it was the work of a married father of two.

Her cover was blown when the Sunday Times newspaper became suspicious and uncovered the truth.

(READ the Reuters story via the Chicago Tribune)