Tina Barr, a conservator of rare books and maps, endures an
attack by a masked fireman in her apartment. When the
police arrive, Tina refuses to cooperate. Detectives
Chapman and Mercer place a call to their favorite Assistant
District Attorney, Alexandra Cooper, to use her legendary
eloquence to gain assistance. Tina proves to be impervious
to Alex's expertise and pulls a disappearing act. With no
victim, Alex concentrates on her current cases, until her
boss puts Tina Barr as a priority with no explanation.
When Alex and the detectives arrive at Tina's apartment,
they discover a mutilated dead woman. It is not Tina, but
the body's identity leads them to the New York Public
Library and into the wealthy world of the trustees that
oversee the library. Books, maps and treasures are missing
with the trustees pointing fingers at one another. Alex
unearths numerous secrets as she tries to sort through
their jealousies and motives. Time becomes an issue when
another murder occurs with obvious ties to the library.
Using the New York City Public Library with its rich
history enhances Ms. Fairstein's tale of murder and greed.
She delves into the lucrative world of book and map
collecting where family devotion is second to valuable
historical artifacts. LETHAL LEGACY, the 11th book in the
compelling Alexandra Cooper mystery series, maintains the
high standards of the previous novels.
In Linda Fairstein’s outstanding new novel, the New
York Public Library houses dazzling treasures—and deadly
secrets.
When Assistant District Attorney Alex
Cooper is summoned to Tina Barr’s apartment on Manhattan’s
Upper East Side, she finds a neighbor convinced that the
young woman was assaulted. But the terrified victim, a
conservator of rare books and maps, refuses to cooperate
with investigators. Then another woman is found murdered
in that same apartment with an extremely valuable book,
believed to have been stolen. As Alex pursues the
murderer, she is drawn into the strange and privileged
world of the Hunt family, major benefactors of the New
York Public Library and passionate rare book
collectors.
Eventually Alex connects their internal
family rivalries to a priceless edition of Alice in
Wonderland, which also contains the world’s oldest
map. Would one of the well-bred Hunts be willing to kill
for the treasures? The search for the answer takes Alex
and her team on a breathtaking chase from Manhattan’s
grandest apartments to the secret tunnels and chambers of
the New York Public Library, and finally to a nineteenth-
century underground vault. There, in the pitch-black
darkness, Alex comes face-to-face with the killer who
values money more than life. Featuring a
cast of elite, erudite, and downright eccentric
characters, and a complex trail of clues that will have
you guessing until the final pages, Lethal Legacy
is Linda Fairstein’s most beguiling thriller yet.
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