A little treat for Thursday: Little Brown just released the title, release date, and synopsis of JK Rowling’s upcoming novel. The Casual Vacancy will be released on September 27, 2012. The plot:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

I’m very confident that Rowling can capture darkly comic struggles beneath English idyllic life. (Although my first thought was “I really hope it’s the book version of Hot Fuzz!”) Very excited to hear more about The Casual Vacancy in the months to come.