A pair of Edinburgh based authors have been revealed as the mystery writers of one of the most talked about books of the year.
American Fantasy author V.E. Schwab and young adult author and screenwriter Cat Clarke wrote “The Ending Writes Itself” under the pen name Evelyn Clarke.
The crime thriller and satire on the publishing industry, set on a remote Scottish island, is not out until April next year.
Publisher HarperCollins were keeping the “mysterious well-known writing duo” a closely guarded secret while describing the novel as “the biggest book of 2026”.
Months of speculation as to the authors’ true identities led to an online frenzy with guesses ranging from JK Rowling and Richard Osman to Harry Styles, Anthony Horowitz, George RR Martin, Marian Keyes and even Cher.
Meanwhile, celebrity readers from Stephen King to Kate Mosse praised the book as reminiscent of a work by Agatha Christie.
Schwab and Clarke were finally unmasked when they appeared on stage together at the Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival in Stirling.
Schwab, who has written more than 20 books, including the Shades of Magic series, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, and Clarke, best known for books including Girlhood and Entangled, have been friends for 15 years.
Clarke said: “We’re very relieved to reveal ourselves as the authors behind Evelyn Clarke’s The Ending Writes Itself.
“We’ve had some incredible praise from authors… Kate Mosse has called it ‘Agatha’s Christie’s And Then There Were None meets Yellowface’, and Stephen King called it ‘clearly in the running for the best mystery of 2026… it will remind you, in the best way, of Agatha Christie’.”
Schwab said: “After saying I would never co-write a novel, let alone one that wasn’t a fantasy, and after Cat absconded from publishing into the vast realms of filmmaking, I somehow managed to persuade her to join forces with me and write a murder mystery.”
In The Ending Writes Itself, six authors are invited to the private Scottish island of world-famous author Arthur Fletch.
Instead of the literary salon they expect, they are told that Fletch is dead, and that his final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished.
Fletch’s publisher presents the authors with the opportunity of a lifetime. Whoever writes a worthy ending will receive two million dollars and a new publishing contract.
They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page… but reaching the end “could be murder”.
The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke (HarperCollins) will be published in April 2026.
V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke the mystery authors of The Ending Writes Itself
Copyright pic: Mike Day / Saltire News and Sport Ltd
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