Published by Dutton (USA)ISBN: 978-0-525-95387-6.
Little
Brown (UK)
30 July 2013. ISBN: 978-0-7515-5043-6
Central Park, that oasis in the center of Manhattan, serves as the backdrop for this latest murder mystery in the Alex Cooper series. It is the fifteenth novel in which the author uses a New York City landmark as a setting. And you learn more than you possibly ever wanted to know about the park, which stretches from 59th to 110th Streets and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West..
A young, apparently homeless, woman is found dead in the lake at the southern end of the park, one of many crimes that have been committed in the park. Then an attempted rape takes place, and Alex determines the perpetrator is someone she has previously prosecuted, and the investigation into the two events proceeds with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace and the whole NYPD scouring the park looking for the suspect.
The plot becomes more complex with at least two or three extraneous side issues, including a possible love entanglement between Mike and a judge and then a putative one with Alex, and the introduction of a decades-old mystery surrounding the abduction of a three-year-old from
the Dakota, a famous apartment building housing many of the rich and famous on CPW.
The novel has all the characteristics of Ms. Fairstein’s earlier books in the series: meticulous research on the landmark she is using to tell the tale, excellent dialog and tight plotting. The novel is recommended.
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Reviewer: Ted Feit
Central Park, that oasis in the center of Manhattan, serves as the backdrop for this latest murder mystery in the Alex Cooper series. It is the fifteenth novel in which the author uses a New York City landmark as a setting. And you learn more than you possibly ever wanted to know about the park, which stretches from 59th to 110th Streets and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West..
A young, apparently homeless, woman is found dead in the lake at the southern end of the park, one of many crimes that have been committed in the park. Then an attempted rape takes place, and Alex determines the perpetrator is someone she has previously prosecuted, and the investigation into the two events proceeds with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace and the whole NYPD scouring the park looking for the suspect.
The plot becomes more complex with at least two or three extraneous side issues, including a possible love entanglement between Mike and a judge and then a putative one with Alex, and the introduction of a decades-old mystery surrounding the abduction of a three-year-old from
the Dakota, a famous apartment building housing many of the rich and famous on CPW.
The novel has all the characteristics of Ms. Fairstein’s earlier books in the series: meticulous research on the landmark she is using to tell the tale, excellent dialog and tight plotting. The novel is recommended.
------
Reviewer: Ted Feit
Linda Fairstein is
an American author and former prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against
women and children. She was born 5 May 1947 in New York. She was
educated at Vassar
College, University of
Virginia School of Law. She has written 14 books featuring Alex Cooper-NY District Attorney, and Detective Mike
Chapman.
Ted and Gloria Feit
live in Long Beach, NY,
a few miles outside New York City.
For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in
lower Manhattan.
Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and
writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly
publications. Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're
now retired, they're able to indulge that passion. Their reviews appear
online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US. On a more personal
note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine
grandchildren between them.
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