In the spring of 1999, a veteran New York book editor got a surprise call from one of the world’s most elusive literary superstars: Thomas Harris. Carole Baron, the editor, had plenty of time for Harris. After “Silence” landed on the best-seller list, Baron signed Harris to a $5.2 million contract for his next two books. But it paid off a few years later when the 1991 film adaptation of “Silence of the Lambs” became a worldwide smash. “Everyone wanted to know when we would have the new Thomas Harris book,” Baron said in a recent video interview, “and I assured them that it was coming.”

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Persons: Thomas Harris, “, Carole Baron, Harris, she’d, gourmand Hannibal Lecter, ”, Baron, Lecter, Darth Vader, ” Baron Organizations: York, Dell, Lambs