JK's hotel clue on new Potter

***wraggster*** · February 3rd, 2007, 14:06

JK ROWLING finished her final Harry Potter book three weeks ago — according to a clue she left in a hotel room.

The author scribbled a note in black marker on the back of a marble bust in Edinburgh’s five-star Balmoral Hotel.

It read: “JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11th Jan 2007.”

One worker snapped the message on a mobile phone camera. And a hotel source said: “We couldn’t believe it when we saw it.

“We get celebrities in the Balmoral all the time and they often sign autographs for fans — but no one has left one behind on an ornament before.”

JK’s seventh and last Harry Potter is due out on July 21, her website revealed yesterday.

The Balmoral refused to comment on the message. But the writer’s representative confirmed she had been penning the novel at the swanky hotel.

The venue is a world away from JK’s roots as an author. She wrote the first in the series — Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone — in Edinburgh cafes Nicholson’s and The Elephant House while a single mum on benefits.

JK has already said two characters die in the new book — with widespread speculation that Harry is one of them.