Staff Selection

Title: Death Dance

Author: Linda Fairstein

ISBN #: 0743254899

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Fairstein brings her considerable experience in the law--she served as the chief prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Unit for 25 years--to her richly detailed legal thrillers. Her series heroine, Alexandra Cooper, is a clone of Fairstein, an assistant district attorney and sex crimes prosecutor with the Manhattan DA's Office. The closeness of character to author works superbly in this series, as it does in Dick Francis' horse-racing thrillers. In this eighth outing for Cooper, Fairstein gives readers insiders' access to two worlds: the pretrial investigations of prosecutors working with homicide detectives and the inner workings of New York's theater world, especially the backstage area of Lincoln Center. A world-famous ballerina has disappeared from Lincoln Center's Metropolitan Opera House during a performance. Cooper teams up with two homicide detectives, laying bare the rough world of professional theater--not everything is beautiful at the ballet. At the same time, Fairstein investigates a sexual-assault case in which a doctor drugs his victims, using a particularly chilling MO. Fairstein's exploration of contemporary DFSA (drug-facilitated sexual assault) and the legal intricacies of DNA data banks proves fascinating. The latest Cooper delivers what has made this series so good: solid legal, procedural, and forensic detail surrounding an intriguing case. The book's added punch comes from Fairstein's Phantom of the Opera-like re-creations of the labyrinthine environs of the Met, beneath and behind the stage. A great read. Connie Fletcher
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