Harper Lee subject of elder abuse investigation in Alabama

Investigators in Alabama are examining a claim of possible elder abuse related to the upcoming publication of the second novel by Harper Lee, the 88-year-old author of To Kill a Mockingbird, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Citing a source with knowledge of the investigation, the paper said officials interviewed Lee in February as well as employees of her assisted living facility, named the Meadows, and some of her friends following an unspecified complaint tied to the publication of Go Set a Watchman.

“Confidentiality laws prevent me from either confirming or denying whether an investigation exists,” Barry Spear, spokesman for the Alabama Human Resources Department, told the Guardian on Thursday.

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It was announced out of the blue last month that a novel Lee wrote as a precursor to Mockingbird had been discovered and would be published in July by HarperCollins, with the author’s approval.

Lee’s lawyer, Tonja Carter, has said she stumbled on the unpublished manuscript, Go Set a Watchman, and Lee agreed it should be published.

But doubts arose about whether the publicity-averse Lee was fully behind the decision, or even understood it. And immediately, conflicting accounts began emerging from different friends, acquaintances, neighbours, staff and lawyers about exactly how frail the 88-year-old, who now has little sight or hearing, is, with some saying she has a full grasp of her faculties, others that she is weak-minded and easily duped.

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http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/12/harper-lee-elder-abuse-investigation-alabama-report