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| Fairstein mixes in a good amount of historical information about the New York boroughs. And her relationship with her two male sidekicks is fun, including their nightly betting on the Final Jeopardy answer. |
Fans turn to Linda Fairstein for ripped-from-the-headline crimes, cutting-edge investigations, and vindication for victims.
She brings readers inside a world of which they can't get enough, but one they hope to never see in real life. And for her twelfth novel, Fairstein takes Alexandra Cooper inside a world she'd rather not see. New York City politics have always been filled with intrigue and behind-the-scenes deals.
In "Hell Gate," Alex finds her attention torn between investigating a shipwreck that has contraband cargo-human cargo-and the political sex scandal of a promising New York congressman now fallen from grace.
When Alex discovers that a woman from the wreck and the congressman's lover have the same rose tattoo-the brand of a "snakehead," a master of a human trafficking operation-it dawns on her that these cases aren't as unrelated as they seem and that the entire political landscape of New York City could hang in the balance of her investigation.
As Alex looks on at the nameless victims in the morgue, she realizes she's looking at the present-day face of New York's long, dark tradition of human trafficking-a tradition that began hundreds of years ago with slave trade from Africa, now a multimillion-dollar industry that will stop at no cost, even if that cost is Alex's life.
Linda Fairstein, former prosecutor and best-selling crime novelist, is one of America’s foremost legal experts on crimes of violence against women and children. For three decades, from 1972 until 2002, she served in the office of the New York County District Attorney, where she was Chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit for twenty-five years.
In that position, Ms. Fairstein supervised the investigation and trial of every Manhattan case involving sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and homicides arising out of these crimes. She was the lead attorney and directed all major litigation in these specialties, ranging from the homicide prosecution of Robert Chambers (the "Preppy Murder" case) in 1988 through the trial against the offenders charged with the riot in Central Park following the Puerto Rican Day parade in June, 2000.
Fairstein is an honors graduate of Vassar College (1969) and the University of Virginia School of Law (1972). In 1998, several of Fairstein’s law school classmates established a scholarship fund in her honor at their alma mater. The Fairstein Public Service Scholarship supports law school students interested in pursuing careers in the public sector.
She has received numerous awards for her legal work, and was the first woman to receive many of them, including the Federal Bar Council’s Emory Buckner Award and UJA Federation’s Judge Joseph Proskauer Award. For her pioneering work on behalf of victims of violence, she has received Columbia University’s School of Medicine and School of Nursing Award for Excellence, the Anti-Violence Project Courage Award, and scores of similar honors. Other recognition includes the American Heart Association Women of Courage Award, Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year Award, and Columbia University Medical School’s Athena Award.
Fairstein is the author of an internationally bestselling series of crime novels (translated into more than a dozen languages), which feature Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. "Final Jeopardy" (1996), "Likely to Die" (1997), "Cold Hit" (1999), "The Deadhouse "(2001) -- winner of The Nero Award for literary excellence in the crime genre, "The Bone Vault" (2003), and "The Kills" are all published by Scribner and Pocket Books.
"The Bone Vault"
"The Bone Vault" begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit.
An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite.
Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier.
A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus?
Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, traveluptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with the kind of procedural authenticity that only Linda Fairstein can provide, "The Bone Vault" is a page-turning tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
"The Bone Vault" begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit.
An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite.
Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier.
A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus?
Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, traveluptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with the kind of procedural authenticity that only Linda Fairstein can provide, "The Bone Vault" is a page-turning tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
This is one of the possible crime scenes in the book.
"Bad Blood"
Assistant D.A. Alexandra Cooper is deeply involved in a complicated, high-profile homicide case against defendant Brendan Quillian, a prominent young businessman charged with the brutal strangulation of his beautiful young wife. His conviction is not a certainty: Quillian was conveniently out of town on the day of the killing, and his defense attorney seems to be one step ahead of Cooper's effort to prove Quillian paid a hit man to commit the crime.
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| Greenwood Cemetery, scene of an exhumation in the novel. |
Was the blast caused by terrorism? Political retribution? Or was it merely an accident? Cooper is quickly drawn into the tragedy when she discovers a strange connection linking Brendan Quillian to the tunnel workers killed in the explosion.
Told with Linda Fairstein's trademark blend of brilliant detective work, cutting-edge forensics, and electrifying courtroom drama, Bad Blood is packed with the twists and turns that never fail to thrill her legions of devoted fans.
"Entombed"
Workers demolishing a 19th-century brownstone where Edgar Allan Poe once lived discover a human skeleton entombed -- standing -- behind a brick wall.
There, an enigmatic librarian presides over the Raven Society, a group devoted to the work of Poe. In exploring the fabled writer's tormented life for clues, Alex will cross paths with a cunning killer and face some of the greatest challenges of her career.
Workers demolishing a 19th-century brownstone where Edgar Allan Poe once lived discover a human skeleton entombed -- standing -- behind a brick wall.
When sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper hears about the case, it strikes her as a classic Poe scene ... except that forensic evidence shows that this young woman died within the last 25 years.
Meanwhile, Alex's old nemesis the Silk Stocking Rapist is once again terrorizing Manhattan's Upper East Side. The attacks soon escalate to murder, and the search leads Alex and detectives Mercer Wallace and Mike Chapman to the city's stunning Bronx Botanical Gardens.
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| Primola Restaurant, Alex's favorite. |
"Entombed" is masterful, exhilarating crime fiction from one of crime writing's most dazzling stars.
The third in Linda Fairstein's gripping and authentic series of crime novels featuring Assistant D.A. Alexandra Cooper. 
If someone said mystery, New York City, the city's history and geography, I'd say, "Who is Linda Fairstein?"In 15 books, she's managed to capture the mystique of New York City while writing about a core group of characters that readers love to see involved in behind-the-scene stories that people seldom know. This time, Fairstein takes readers into the heart of the city, Central Park, in "Death Angel."
The murder of a homeless or runaway girl would probably not make the news if it hadn't happened in the city's jewel, Central Park. But, Alexandra Cooper, the prosecutor in charge of the Special Victims Unit for Manhattan shows up when the body is found, not knowing if it was a sex crime. Coop likes to team up with two favorite officers, Mercer Williams and Mike Chapman. Mike's been assigned the case, but because of the high profile of the location, there's close scrutiny of the case.
At the same time, there's close scrutiny of the relationship between Chapman and Coop. It seems Chapman had a relationship with a woman who blames Coop for the break-up, and she's threatening to take her story to the media. It could become an enormous scandal for the city.
While Chapman faces a deadline on the scandal, the trio tackle a case that takes them through Central Park on the trail of a killer and a rapist, to shelters for the homeless, and a shelter for the super-rich, the Dakota. It's a story that manages to capture the history of a great landmark, while solving a contemporary murder and a cold case, cases that all lead back to Central Park
Anyone familiar with Linda Fairstein's series will welcome the return of three favorite characters in a mystery that combines a strong storyline with fascinating history. All of those elements combine to make every Fairstein novel unique while still having the appeal of familiar, well-loved characters. Fans of the series will appreciate the hint at a change in a relationship. And, for those who haven't yet discovered Linda Fairstein's world, Central Park is a wonderful place to start. Death Angel is a treat for those of us who love Fairstein and her city, as well as newcomers to the world of Alexandra Cooper, Mike Chapman and Mercer Williams.
"Night Watch"
There’s no peace for Manhattan Sex Crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper, whose vacation on the Riviera is interrupted by two crimes, one outside her bailiwick, one inside, and both very uncomfortable indeed.
After a gratuitous brush with a handful of skulls left outside the restaurant owned by her sweetie Luc Rouget, Alex learns of a far more disturbing development when the body of Lisette Honfleur, who’d been helping Luc with the books at Le Relais a Mougins, is fished from Fontmerle Pond.
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| Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn |
Before Alex can do more than wonder about the murder, she’s abruptly reeled back to Manhattan by her boss, New York County District Attorney Paul Battaglia.
Blanca Robles, a Guatemalan chambermaid at the Eurotel, has accused hotel guest Mohammed Gil-Darsin, head of the World Economic Bureau and aspiring president of Ivory Coast, of rape, and she’s got the DNA evidence to prove it—or at least to prove that there was a sexual encounter.
As Blanca’s credibility plummets, Fairstein, creates a compelling narrative by the simple expedient of plundering news stories about the remarkably similar accusations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. But lest Alex assume she can forget about Lisette now that she’s up to her neck in this new case, the corpse of unemployed waiter Luigi Calamari is pulled from Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal with a matchbox marked “LUTECE” in his pocket, threatening to cut off Alex’s romance with Luc at the root.
Not surprisingly, the case ripped from the headlines is much more absorbing than the tale of restaurant malfeasance and imperiled love.
"Silent Mercy:
When the burnt headless body of a young woman is found on the steps of a Baptist Church in Harlem, Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper is one of the first on the shocking scene.
Alex has seen some gruesome crimes committed in New York, but the barbarity of this latest discovery leaves her nauseous.
With NYPD cop Mike Chapman, Alex begins to investigate, but before long another woman is slaughtered and found on the steps of a Catholic church in Little Italy; her throat slashed and her tongue cut out.
It becomes clear there is a zealous serial killer on the loose. Now Alex and Mike must keep one step ahead of a religious fanatic bent on silencing the women he believes are bringing shame to his beliefs – before he kills anyone else.
" The Kills"
From New York Times bestselling author and former top prosecutor Linda Fairstein comes an electrifying new thriller rich with the riveting behind-the-scenes authenticity that only she can offer.... It's going to be a tough trial.
Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper's case, involving an attack on investment banker Paige Vallis, would be difficult to prove even without the latest development -- it seems that Paige has something to hide. Most of her story is clear. She'd had dinner with New York consultant Andrew Tripping three times before the March evening when she accepted his invitation to accompany him to his apartment.
But what occurred that night? Why didn't she leave the apartment when he started to act strangely? What about Tripping's little boy, Dulles? What happened to the child that fateful evening? And who is the strange man whose appearance in the courtroom seems to terrify Paige?
While Alex's police detective friend Mercer Wallace helps her learn more of the sad details behind the increasingly puzzling rape case, colleague Mike Chapman is uptown in a decaying Harlem brownstone where 82-year-old McQueen Ransome has been murdered, her apartment ransacked. What could this impoverished, elderly woman have possessed that could have inspired such violence?
Photographs on the wall suggest that "Queenie" was once a beautiful and voluptuous young woman who traveled to faraway places. Could there be a clue to her murder in her exotic background?
Her murder will be only the first. Others follow, as the tragic strands of the Paige Vallis and McQueen Ransome cases begin to converge in a poignant alliance of two women from very different worlds.
Faced with formidable personal and professional choices, Alex must learn the old lesson that appearances can deceive, even as she heads for a showdown in which her wits and her courage will be tested as never before.
With its winning combination of courtroom drama, historical detail, and the intriguing lore of a rare object whose fabled provenance provides a glistening thread through the story, The Kills is powerful, stylish writing from a hugely appealing crime-writing star. (From The Best Reviews)
‘Deadfall’
Hunting a killer within New York’s urban jungle becomes the biggest case of Alexandra Cooper’s career in New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein’s latest riveting thriller.
A wild heart beats within New York City. Amid concrete and skyscrapers, the Wildlife Conservation Society works to preserve and protect the animal kingdom both within and beyond the borders of the five boroughs.
But dangerous creatures don't always have claws and fangs, as Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper and NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace know all too well. Predators lurk close to home, and in the aftermath of the shocking assassination of an iconic public figure—someone Alex has worked with for years—the trio must unravel the motive behind the shooting to discover who is the bigger snake: the killer or the victim.
The murder investigation provides more questions than answers, as a tangled mess of secrets slowly comes to light. From street gangs to secret societies, from big-game hunting to the illegal animal trade, from New York City zoos to the highest offices in city government, Alex has her work cut out for her—especially since the task force handling the investigation, led by the US Attorney, seems to be more against her than with her.
As tensions rise between Alex and the feds, she must determine just how far she is willing to go to uncover the truth—and uphold the integrity of the office she has so proudly served.
