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Amazon.com When Linda Fairstein describes the route Alexandra Cooper takes from the district attorney's office to NYPD headquarters, you know she's walked that way many times herself. "I took the shortcut over to One Police Plaza, cutting behind the Metropolitan Correctional Center and alongside the staggeringly expensive new federal courthouse, which made our digs, complete with oversized rodents and roaches that obviously thrived on Combat, look like judicial facilities in some third world country." Like her fictional counterpart, Fairstein is a Manhattan assistant district attorney in charge of a sex-crimes unit. As she did in Final Jeopardy and Hardcover edition. Book Description Renowned sex-crimes prosecutor and bestselling author Linda Fairstein sends her acclaimed heroine -- the stylish and steely-nerved D.A. Alexandra Cooper -- on a hunt for a killer inside New York City's glitzy art world. Alexandra Cooper has seen many murder victims, but few more disturbing than the silk-clad body of a woman, her hands and feet tied to a ladder, pulled from the turbulent waters at Manhattan's northern tip. With her colleagues, including NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex races against the clock and hopes for a "cold hit" -- a DNA match that would reveal the identity of the murderer by linking the crime to someone already in the police database. But as the case pulls her into the exclusive world of East Side auction houses and cutting-edge Chelsea galleries, Alex discovers she may be marked as an expendable commodity in a chilling and deadly scheme.... Reader Reviews An artistically-done caper...literally!, May 21, 2003 Reviewer: Karen Sadler from Freedom, Pa. USA Fairstein is a recent find for me. Her background into the real world of violent sex crimes is usually a field that make me extremely uncomfortable. But Fairstein does a good job in explaining the reality of that world without dwelling on it unnecessarily. Thank you for that. This particular novel deals with the seamy side of the art world. I knew it existed from reading nonfiction on it, as well as other mysteries dealing with it--it seems to be a popular subject at the moment. Is it happening more often, or are we just more aware of it? The plot basically boils down to the fact that certain art has been stolen and missing for over ten years. The person found murdered originally may possibly have had some connection to the resurfacing of this artwork. Then Mike and Alex (the ADA) take it from there. I got a kick out of some of the background into both the art world (the propensity to cover up valuable paintings/illuminated manuscripts seems to be a real problem) and also into the information concerning the railway system in New York. I've been reading the nonfiction book "Gangs of New York" so this information played into the understanding I got from that book. To me, the more well-written history in a mystery...the better I like it. This book got a little confusing after a while. Too many people, too many paintings to keep track of. My favorite parts of the book deal with Alex's coworkers, especially Mike who reminds me greatly of one of my mentors in my HIV lab, who was also a practical joke player and wisecracker. This deep detail into characterization always pleases me with mysteries or any book. It is part of what make a good book come alive. This book was more 'alive' then others I've read recently because of good characterization, but the plot line was a little obtuse. Anyway, it was a fun read... Karen Sadler
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