Author Linda Fairstein, a former district attorney, earned her law degree from the University of Virginia. Her 19th novel, “Deadfall,” was recently released and her second novel for young readers, “Digging for Trouble,” debuts in November.
– Photo by Katherine Marks
By Kurt Anthony Krug
Legal News
Linda Fairstein was reluctant to lead the Sex Crimes Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office — something that made her career — back in 1976.
“I was asked to take over by (then-Manhattan District Attorney) Bob Morgenthau. The (SCU) was brand new; it was the first in the country, established in 1975,”?she said. “I was the only woman there who had some experience handling sex crimes, although I was only 29.”
Fairstein said Morgenthau thought it was important that a woman lead the unit to “make it more inviting for victims of sexual violence to trust the prosecutor’s office.”
“He asked me to take over. I was reluctant, I really didn’t want to do it, but he gave me no choice,” she added, laughing. “I did, and it was the work that kept me there for 30 years.”
Fairstein, who lives in Manhattan and Martha’s Vineyard, still conducts various workshops for prosecutors when not writing her best-selling mystery novels starring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper.
Her 19th novel, “Deadfall,” was recently released. Her second novel for young readers, “Digging for Trouble,” debuts Nov. 6.
Fairstein rose to prominence prosecuting Robert Chambers in the highly-publicized “Preppie Murder” case.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Jennifer Levin, whom he murdered in Central Park in 1986.
When police questioned Chambers, he had defensive wounds on his face and hands. Taken in for questioning, he changed his story several times, eventually claiming he killed her in self-defense.
This case become widely-publicized.
Chambers made the cover of People Magazine. In 1989, ABC released a telefilm called “The Preppie Murder,” starring William Baldwin as Chambers, Lara Flynn Boyle as Levin and Joanna Kerns as Fairstein.
Fairstein graduated from Vassar College in 1969 with her undergraduate degree in English literature and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972.
“I went to law school without any idea of what aspect of law I wanted to work in, but I knew I wanted to do public service. There were very few women litigators in any branch of law back then, civil or criminal. I didn’t go to law school to become a prosecutor,” said Fairstein.
Monrad Paulsen, the dean of UVA Law at the time, was Fairstein’s criminal law professor who found her to be thoroughly engaged in issues surrounding criminal law.
He fostered her interest in becoming a prosecutor, which got the attention of then-Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan.
“Hogan was slowly opening his door to women. I got in that door that year,” Fairstein said. “(His office) had about 200 lawyers when I graduated in 1972, seven (of whom were) women.”
Fairstein retired from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2002.
“Things had changed so much and for the better. I had 40 lawyers on my team in the (SCU) as opposed to four when I started. We had changed laws in New York to make the system more accessible,” she said. “I thought it was simply time to let other people step in and lead.”
In 1996, she published “Final Jeopardy,” her first Alex Cooper novel. Fairstein spoke about how people couldn’t understand why she wanted to deal with sex offenders during her prosecutor days, a topic addressed in her books.
“I wanted to show through Alex Cooper it’s a fascinating world,” she said. “I liked (getting) justice that had been denied for decades. I also wanted to have a very strong woman protagonist.”
Michigan native/author Allison Leotta, a former sex-crimes prosecutor herself, followed Fairstein’s example. Her protagonist Anna Curtis is also a sex-crimes prosecutor.
“As one of the first sex-crimes prosecutors in the country, (Fairstein) transformed the way these heart-wrenching crimes are handled, bringing thoughtfulness, compassion, and scientific rigor to the process,” Leotta said. “She did this during a time when very few women were even allowed to be prosecutors, opening the door for every female lawyer who hoped to follow in her footsteps. “
Carrie Smith, another Michigan native and author, cited Fairstein as an inspiration.
“Linda’s a crime fiction ‘triple threat.’ She’s an expert in the criminal justice system; she knows New York City, past and present; and she can spin a breathtaking story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. When I set out to write my New York City mystery series, I devoured her books and enjoyed every one of them,” said Smith.
In “Deadfall,” Alex investigates the drive-by murder of a D.A., someone she’s worked with for years. During the investigation, Alex goes from witness to suspect. A tangled web of secrets comes to light — from bribes to secret societies, from big-game hunting to the illegal animal trade, from New York City zoos to behind closed doors in government buildings.
When Fairstein was writing “Deadfall,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died Feb. 13, 2016 at a Texas hunting preserve. The official cause of death was natural causes. Scalia went quail-hunting and with members of the International Order of St. Hubertus, a secretive, male-only fraternity of hunters and wildlife conservationists.
“This startled me. It was the last place I expected to find him… I didn’t think of him as a hunter,” said Fairstein. “He took me into a world of people I didn’t expect to be trophy hunters. We had a Supreme Court justice who was in that secret club.”
Author/former Michigan State University law professor Anthony Franze called “Deadfall” Fairstein’s best book yet.
“Linda’s work carries the authenticity of only someone who’s been in the criminal justice trenches — and someone who knows Manhattan like the back of her hand,” said Franze.
Asked how much of her is in Alex, Fairstein laughed. According to Fairstein, the professional part of Alex is all her.
“You can see how Coop loves the work, the collegiality, the passion, the procedural aspects of how these cases work with a little drama thrown in,” she said.
“The personal side, however, I take great license and enjoy doing it… I frequently say she’s younger, thinner, blonder. When the series started, she was 35 and 19 books later, she’s 38. Things I can fictionally control, I do. I had fun creating her personal side.”
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