Inside the ‘Argylle’-Elly Conway publishing mystery

According to some corners of the internet, in addition to attending the Golden Globes, dating an NFL star, re-recording several albums, and performing her three-plus-hour “Eras” show 60 times and releasing it as a major concert film, Taylor Swift found time to write a spy novel that’s being called the next James Bond. 

The thriller “Argylle” is being published Tuesday by Bantam Books/Penguin Random House under the pseudonym “Elly Conway,” and it’s already been adapted into a $200 million film starring Dua Lipa, Henry Cavill, John Cena and Bryce Dallas Howard. Directed by Matthew Vaughn — whose previous hits include the “Kingsman” movies and “X-Men: First Class” — it hits theaters February 2.

But the truth about the book’s authorship, and the film’s source material, is as twisted, conspiracy-filled and globe-trotting as a massive Hollywood franchise. 

“Something’s fishy,” an anonymous Hollywood producer who has worked with Vaughn, told The Post. 

In July 2021, it was reported that the director was putting together his next would-be blockbuster, assembling a star-studded cast for a movie based on the as-yet-to-be-published novel “Argylle” by Elly (sometimes written as Ellie) Conway. Vaughn called the book “incredible” and “original,” according to early reports.

The following month, Apple nabbed worldwide film rights to the project in an agreement estimated at $200 million. Nowhere in the all the deal-making was it noted that Vaughn had optioned the “Argylle” novel itself — just that it would be based upon the book.  

At the end of 2022, Conway surfaced with a verified Instagram account, @ellyconway, that paints her as a bookish New York gal who somehow didn’t know how to use social media and couldn’t believe that Hollywood had come calling. An @ellyconway X account followed in June 2023.

“How do you fluster an introvert? Publish her first novel, have Matthew Vaughn buy the movie rights, then tell her she has to start using social media for ‘visibility,’” she captioned a photo of Westsider Rare & Used Books Inc., noting the Upper West Side shop was one of her favorite bookstores. 

Such New Yorky posts aligned with Conway’s vague author bio, which noted that she was born and raised upstate and had worked in a 24-hour diner.

Then, in September 2023, Apple released the first trailer for the film, igniting Taylor Swift controversies. 

Eagle-eyed Swiftie (is there any other kind) @JessiSwiftTikTok noted on TikTok that Howard’s movie character — a spy novelist named Elly Conway — carries around a cat in a backpack, just as Swift has done, among other points of minutiae. Other diehard Taylor fans jumped on board, finding connections and Easters eggs.

Conway took to X to deny any connection to Swift.

Further complicating matters, Vaughn went on a podcast last fall and explained that first book in the “Argylle” series is what is being released but that his movie is actually based on an as-yet-to-be-published, and potentially not yet written, fourth book. 

“I don’t want to spoil it all,” said Vaughn. “But I sort of like the idea of the book, but also the idea of showing an author writing the book, and it just inspired a whole lot of meta movie universe.”

Now, some are speculating that Elly Conway and her supposed novel is just a synergetic fiction created by Vaughn and/or various marketing departments. 

The book is copyrighted by Marv Quinn Holding Limited. The name of the production company Vaughn has with fellow director Guy Ritchie is Marv Studios.

The cat is also a giveaway, some say. The anonymous film producer notes that it’s actually Vaughn’s cat, and he can’t imagine the director putting his pet in a movie that was an adaptation.

“[That’s] awfully personal for it to not be his story,” he said.

When asked if he is actually Elly Conway, Vaughn offered a carefully worded response.

“I wish I had Elly’s talent to write such a fabulous novel and I feel very lucky that I got to make the first ‘Argylle’ movie,” he told The Post in an email via his agent. (Penguin Random House did not offer comment on the matter.)

Meanwhile, Studio System, a massive entertainment industry database, lists “Cat Connor” as an alternate name for Conway. A New Zealand author named Cat Connor has written a series of FBI thrillers with a protagonist named Ellie Conway for more than a decade. But, Connor insists she has no connection to “Argylle” — and hints that she’s skeptical about Elly Conway.

“I haven’t been able to verify her existence and I’m pretty good at research,” she told The Post over email.

Whomever Conway is — or isn’t — a New York book editor says the mystery just highlights the smoke-and-mirrors aspect of the publishing industry.

“A lot of people would be surprised by how many books are ghost-written. It’s not just memoirs by Prince Harry and Britney Spears,” she told The Post.

But, she added, “Someone had to write the book.”