New Fifty Shades of Grey manuscript stolen days before release sparking fears it could be sold on the black market

 
Best-seller: the original Fifty Shades trilogy went on to sell £125 million copies
Gareth Vipers10 June 2015
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Thieves have stolen a manuscript of the new Fifty Shades of Grey novel, which is set for release next week.

A copy of the new book was discovered missing this morning, according to publisher Penguin Random House.

Police have launched an investigation amid fears that copies of the manuscript could be made and sold on the black market, or that extracts could be sold off to media outlets ahead of the official June 18 release.

Grey – which is the long-awaited follow-up to British author EL James’s best-selling trilogy – is a re-imagining of the original book told from billionaire Christian Grey’s perspective.

Released as a novel in 2011, Fifty Shades of Grey began as a piece of online Twilight fan fiction and went on to sell more than 125 million copies worldwide.

James, 52 and originally from London, is now ranked The Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £75 million.

The first Fifty Shades trilogy was turned into a Hollywood movie starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, which was released earlier this year. The franchise is also planning a lingerie line and its own wine.

Hollywood movie: EL James (right) with Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson (left) and actors Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson
Ian Gavan/Getty Images

James has revealed she was inspired to write the new novel by fans who “asked and asked” for more detail about Christian Grey's troubled past.

She said: “Christian is a complex character and readers have always been fascinated by his desires and motivations, and his troubled past."

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