Harper Lee was not manipulated into publishing her sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird , and is not an elder abuse victim , according to an official probe . State authorities were suspicious that the 88-year-old author , who is reportedly deaf and blind , was somehow pushed into publishing the forthcoming Go Set a Watchman , and launched two investigations into the circumstances surrounding the launch . Many feared outside influences were at play as Lee , who lives in an nursing home in Monroeville , Alabama , had said for decades she wanted To Kill a Mockingbird to be her only published novel . Scroll down for video . Of sound mind : Investigators concluded that Harper Lee , pictured above in 2009 , is in a fit state to make decisions about the future of the forthcoming novel Go Set a Watchman . Officials at the state 's Department of Human Resources confirmed Monday that their investigation had been completely closed . Earlier Alabama 's Securities Commission had sent an investigator to speak with her , and said that she answered their questions well enough to convince them she made her own decision , and knew what was happening with her book . The DHR investigation remained open for a time , but spokesman Barry Spear has confirmed that they are now also satisfied that nothing is amiss . Earlier suspicions had in part been fired by the fact that Lee 's attorneys had announced the release , due in July , and that publishing house HarperCollins had not had any direct contact with her . Elderly : Lee lives in this nursing home in Monroeville , Alabama , and has reportedly been deaf and blind since 2007 . Bobby Segall , a lawyer representing Lee 's attorney Tonja Carter , confirmed Monday that they received a letter saying that DHR was closing the investigation with no findings . HarperCollins has announced a July 14 release date for Go Set a Watchman , and will print an initial run of 2million copies . The book is high on Amazon 's best-seller list despite some concerns about the novel , which Lee wrote before To Kill A Mockingbird . Lee had long expressed that she 's happy to have 1960 's Mockingbird ' - which won a Pulitzer , was adapted into a movie and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide - as her only published book . Go Set a Watchman , a 304-page novel , is a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird , although Lee actually wrote it in the mid-1950s , before Mockingbird . Old and new : Go Set a Watchman is a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird - though Lee actually wrote it before the best-selling novel which secured her reputation . The new novel will feature Scout , Mockigbird 's protagonist , as an adult woman returning to Maycomb , Alabama from New York City 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird . Lee thought she had lost the novel 's manuscript - but her attorney Tonja Carter found it recently . A statement from Lee , released by HarperCollins , said : 'In the mid-1950s , I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman . 'It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman , and I thought it a pretty decent effort . My editor , who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout 's childhood , persuaded me to write a novel ( what became 'To Kill a Mockingbird ' ) from the point of view of the young Scout . ' I was a first-time writer , so I did as I was told . I had n't realized it ( the original book ) had survived , so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it . Not happy to see him : Reporter Connor Sheets received this blunt , handwritten 'Go away ! ' from Harper Lee when he asked her repeatedly for an interview . 'After much thought and hesitation , I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication . I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years . ' According to publisher Harper , Carter came upon the manuscript at a 'secure location where it had been affixed to an original typescript of To Kill a Mockingbird . ' Lee has refused to comment further on the novel , helping fire suspicions about her mental state . One Alabamian reporter who tried for two weeks to secure an interview was eventually rewarded with a hand-written note . It read : 'Go away ! Harper Lee . '
Famed author 's first novel , Go Set a Watchman , is due out on July 14 . Authorities feared Lee had been pushed into releasing the long-lost sequel . She previously said she wanted Mockingbird to be her only published work . State investigators went to Monroeville , Alabama , to speak with her . Said they found nothing amiss and have closed their investigation .