
Harper Lee's Lost True Crime Book - drjohnson
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/04/and-the-missing-briefcase-the-real-story-behind-harper-lees-lost-true-book
======
labster
I do some creative writing too, and can save things for a very long time,
agonizing over details. But life as a programmer has taught me to just ship
it. Writing and code are never perfect, no matter how perfectionist I am.

So I really feel sorry for Harper Lee -- there were probably 300 pages of good
writing that went up in smoke because she set an impossible standard for
herself. My advice to you all is to seek high quality, but remember that
eventually worse is better, and it's time to ship it.

~~~
C1sc0cat
A similar thing can happen to Actors Harry H Corbett for example The Son in
Steptoe and son

~~~
werds
what happened to Harry H Corbett?

------
officemonkey
If you want to read a real Harper Lee True Crime book, read Truman Capote's
"In Cold Blood." She helped him with the research, and some people feel she
may have ghosted much of it.

Regardless, it's an iconic true crime book you could (and should) read.

~~~
AdmiralAsshat
I find it odd that people would think she ghosted In Cold Blood, considering
that Harper Lee published exactly one book (two as of 2019) and Capote
published well over a dozen.

Not saying it isn't possible, one would just generally assume that the "ghost"
would be the more experienced author.

~~~
officemonkey
Well, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has never been out of print (since 1960) and
Capote isn't known for his novels. "In Cold Blood" (1966) was his most
successful work. One could argue that she was the more successful novelist.

Capote's fame is mostly due to his "jet set" social life, not the quantity or
quality of his work.

------
crikli
Seems like John Grisham got a few basic plot points for A Time to Kill from
the Maxwell story.

