The Confidentiality Trap

In 2013, a crime novel called The Cuckoo's Calling landed at bookstores in the U.K. An unknown author named Robert Galbraith, whom the publisher described as a former British military police investigator, had apparently decided to try his hand at writing. The book received solid reviews, especially for a debut release. But sales were modest. It was hardly a hit.

Then an anonymous Twitter user contacted a columnist at The Sunday Times of London with a bold claim—that Robert Galbraith was in fact J.K. Rowling. When the newspaper commissioned a forensic analysis that compared Rowling's writing style with Galbraith's, it found striking similarities. It took the evidence to Rowling's publisher, which confirmed that The Cuckoo's Calling and Harry Potter were indeed written by the same author. The truth promptly came out. Sales of the book surged.