What is the title of J.K. Rowling’s 2012 adult novel about a village election?

J.K. Rowling’s 2012 adult novel about a village election is The Casual Vacancy.

Published by Little, Brown and Company on 27 September 2012, The Casual Vacancy is Rowling’s first novel written for adults. It is set in the fictional English town of Pagford, where a vacant seat on the parish council triggers a bitter local election and exposes tensions within the community.

The title refers to the empty council position created by the death of Barry Fairbrother. Unlike Harry Potter, the novel is contemporary social fiction and deals with class, poverty, family conflict, and local politics. Rowling’s later crime novels were published under a separate pen name, but The Casual Vacancy was issued under her own name.