Elderly Abuse Investigation into Harper Lee Book Deal Closed
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Alabama investigators have closed an elderly abuse inquiry involving the upcoming publication of To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee’s upcoming novel.
The Alabama Securities Commission, which handles complaints of elder abuse, conducted a probe into whether financial fraud had been committed in the deal to publish Lee’s new book, Go Set a Watchman.
There had been speculation that Lee, 88, who lives in an assisted-living facility in Alabama, may not have been capable of consenting to the publication of the story that she worked on before To Kill a Mockingbird, which was released in 1960.
Joseph Borg, director of the Alabama Securities Commission, says, “We traveled to the nursing home to talk to Ms. Lee at the request of the Alabama Department of Human Resources. We have no reason to believe that she’s not aware of what’s going on based on the questions that were asked and answered during our meeting with her. We have closed the probe from our end.”
The Alabama Human Resources Department said it could not comment on whether there had been an elderly abuse investigation.
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, will debut Go Set a Watchman in July.
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