J.K. Rowling's follow-up to her smash Harry Potter book series will be a novel for adults entitled The Casual Vacancy, the British author and her publisher have announced.

Little, Brown Book Group revealed on Thursday that Rowling's new book will be published worldwide in English on Sept. 27 in multiple formats, including hardcover, e-book, downloadable audio and on CD.

The novel is said to take place in a seemingly idyllic British town called Pagford, where the unexpected death of a parish councillor leaves the community in shock and also sparks an election that proves to be "the biggest war the town has yet seen," according to the publisher.

Little, Brown also described the book as "blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising."

The Casual Vacancy is Rowling's first novel for adults.

Rowling's seven-book Harry Potter series became an international phenomenon and made her one of the world's best known and richest authors.

Published over a decade starting in 1997, the books sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, set numerous sales records, were translated into more than 70 languages and spawned a blockbuster film series.