I hope you all enjoyed the live discussion yesterday at the Big City Book Club with Caleb Carr as a special guest. Most excitingly for regular visitors to 17th Street and long-time readers of the Alienist books, Mr. Carr has confirmed that a third book is indeed planned! In addition, another crime novel with “historical overtones” is also in the pipeline. The full question with Mr. Carr’s response is below.
Question: Do you have any plans to write a third book?
Caleb Carr: Well, not exactly the time to ask this: I have just finished a massive new work, “The Legend of Broken,” which is very different, and yet, at its core, not so different at all. An experiment in the theory that most of the questions we’ve been discussing are philosophically eternal, like nobility, greed, and stupidity; and I hope everyone will give it a chance, even if it is not set in New York.
And so I can’t set RIGHT off to do another long Alienist book. I have another crime novel in mind, with many historical overtones, and if all goes well, I will tackle the last in the Alienist trilogy thereafter.
And yes, it will unravel the mystery of Sara Howard…
You can read the rest of the questions submitted to Mr. Carr and his answers at the Big City Book Club or on the message board. There was some really interesting discussion about the characters, the social issues at the heart of The Alienist, the question of whether the book will ever make it to the screen (or the stage?), and the history of New York City itself. Enjoy!
