MONTREAL, April 6 (UPI) -- Buyers beware: "If I Did It: The O.J. Simpson Book" hyped on the Internet, is not "If I Did It," scheduled to be auctioned in California later this month.
The new book, which reportedly will be published by Canada-based Lifetime Books in June, is "the story of the original book," according to a publisher's note on Barnes&Noble.com, the New York Daily News reported Friday.
The real "If I Did It" is Simpson's hypothetical treatise on the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
A publisher's note on the bookseller's site says the new book details HarperCollins' scratching of plans to publish the original book last year, "and the news surrounding the book's auction," which will go to satisfy a multimillion dollar wrongful death judgment awarded to Goldman's family. Simpson was acquitted in the criminal case.
Lifetime's parent company, Barclay Road Inc., wants to bid for the rights to publish the original book if the scheduled auction goes forward April 17. A legal challenge is pending.
If Lifetime doesn't acquire the original book rights, it will go ahead with plans to publish its book about the book.
