Join BookBrowse today and get access to free books, our twice monthly digital magazine, and more.

Linda Fairstein biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Linda Fairstein
Author photograph by Sigrid Estrada

Linda Fairstein

Linda Fairstein Biography

Linda Fairstein, America's foremost legal expert on crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence, led the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan for twenty-five years. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, she is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Her first novel, Final Jeopardy, introduced the critically acclaimed character of Alexandra Cooper and was made into an ABC Movie of the Week starring Dana Delaney. The celebrated series has gone on to include the New York Times bestsellers Likely to Die, Cold Hit, The Deadhouse (winner of the Nero Wolfe Award for Best Crime Novel of 2001, and chosen as a "Best Book of 2001" by both The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times), The Bone Vault, The Kills, Entombed, Death Dance, Bad Blood, Killer Heat, Lethal Legacy, Hell Gate, and Silent Mercy. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her nonfiction book, Sexual Violence, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She lives with her husband in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.

Linda Fairstein's website

This bio was last updated on 07/09/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Interview

Linda Fairstein talks about what she appreciates most about being a writer, and to what degree her professional and personal life overlaps with her lead character, Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper.

Do you have to be careful about what you write about? For example, I know you can't write about cases that you're working on.
There are three things that I stay away from. First I don't write about anything I'm working on and none of the high-profile cases. As you know, I draw from real examples and use the kind of procedural details that police and prosecutors do in investigating the cases, but without linking them to the individuals who have actually been victims and offenders in real cases that I've worked. Perhaps I'll do that some day. I am haunted by a few cases that I would like to write about in factual detail.

I also do not like to do kids in jeopardy for works of fiction. I want the reactions and the thought processes and the emotions of adults that I'm working with. I don't like to read stories about children in jeopardy and children used as tools.

A lot of the violence in my fiction takes place off the page and I just deal with the aftermath of it, how the police handle it, and then how the courtroom system tries to find its way to do justice.

Obviously your professional life...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Linda Fairstein at BookBrowse
Death Angel jacket Silent Mercy jacket Hell Gate jacket Lethal Legacy jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Linda Fairstein but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Russell Andrews

    Russell Andrews

    Russell Andrews is a pseudonym for Peter Gethers. Under the Andrews name, he has written five bestselling thrillers, Gideon, Icarus, Aphrodite, Midas and Hades.

    In real life, he is a screenwriter, novelist, publisher, and ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Bone Vault

    Try:
    Aphrodite
    by Russell Andrews

  • Nevada Barr

    Nevada Barr

    Nevada Barr is an award-winning novelist and New York Times best-selling author. She has a growing number of Anna Pigeon mysteries to her credit as well as numerous other books, short stories, and articles. She currently ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Bone Vault

    Try:
    Flashback
    by Nevada Barr

We recommend 5 similar authors

View all 5 Read-Alikes

Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Support BookBrowse

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more


Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Says Who?
    Says Who?
    by Anne Curzan
    Ordinarily, upon sitting down to write a review of a guide to English language usage, I'd get myself...
  • Book Jacket: The Demon of Unrest
    The Demon of Unrest
    by Erik Larson
    In the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election, the divided United States began to collapse as ...
  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket: I Cheerfully Refuse
    I Cheerfully Refuse
    by Leif Enger
    Set around Lake Superior in the Upper Midwest, I Cheerfully Refuse depicts a near-future America ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Familiar
by Leigh Bardugo
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo comes a spellbinding novel set in the Spanish Golden Age.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Flower Sisters
    by Michelle Collins Anderson

    From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.

Who Said...

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don'...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

P t T R

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.