The Ending Writes Itself

‘In the running for the best mystery of 2026’ Stephen King

Evelyn Clarke is the pseudonym for Number One Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, and screenwriter and YA author Cat Clarke.

SELECTED FOR 2026 ONES TO WATCH:

Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Radio Times, BBC News Online, Stylist, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald Scotland, My Weekly, The Scotsman, Muddy Stilettos Berkshire

‘A cracking read' Val McDermid

‘Smart, original and completely addictive’ Karin Slaughter

‘And Then There Were None meets Yellowface’ Kate Mosse

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending.

World-famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself.

When six struggling authors are invited to Fletch's private Scottish island and presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, the plot thickens: whoever writes a worthy ending will receive a game-changing book deal and two million dollars.

Why have they been chosen to attend? Who is behind the invitation? And just how far would they go to secure a place on the bestseller list?

They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write…

Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.

‘Hugely entertaining and thrilling’ B A Paris

‘Full of twists and turns … A must-read for any mystery fan!’ G.T. Karber

‘Fiendishly clever and compulsively readable… An absolute must read’ Ellery Lloyd

‘Funny, razor sharp and scarily relatable’ Sarah Crossan

‘A wonderfully twisty mystery that plays with all the tropes we know so well. An absolute delight to read!’ Phoenicia Rogerson

About the Author

It was a dark and stormy night (or an unusually warm evening in Edinburgh, Scotland) when No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab proposed an absurd idea to longtime friend and screenwriter Cat Clarke: that they should write a book together. V had made quite a name for herself, with more than twenty books, including the the recent bestseller Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, but had sworn she'd never co-write a novel.

While Cat, following a tumultuous career as an editor and the author of several YA novels, including Girlhood and Entangled, had fled the publishing industry to work in the even more tumultuous film industry, swearing she'd never return to books. And yet, fate - and an irresistible idea - made liars of them both. That night, as they switched from tea to something stronger, Evelyn Clarke was born.