March 9, 2010. A beautiful, sunny day in New York, overcoats off, with temperatures reaching up into the high 50s.
I went down to Michael’s to have lunch with Linda Fairstein whose “Hellgate” (Dutton, publishers), the twelfth book in her Alexandra Cooper detective series, is officially published today.
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| DPC and Linda Fairstein at Michael's. |
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She started out this morning on the Today Show, then the Joan Hamburg Show on WOR, then Live with Lisa on WSTC/WNLK in Connecticut and Westchester and then finishes off the day signing books at Barnes and Noble on Broadway and 82nd Street.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) Linda will be on Good Day New York with Rosanna Scotto. She also begins her two-week book tour that will take her to Boston where she will appear at Porter Square Books on White Street in Cambridge and then the next day at the Harvard Club (Linda went to Vassar), and then on to Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia at their Borders; then to Washington, Richmond, Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, New Canaan, Palm Beach, Delray, Madison, Connecticut and eventually to Martha’s Vineyard (where she and her husband have a vacation house).
Linda used to be a DA here in New York. Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit. More than 20 years. She’s an expert on sex crimes and domestic violence. She puts some of that expertise to practice as a board member of Safe Horizon, the organization that assists people involved in sexual abuse and domestic violence. However, aside from that Linda’s this very cheerful, gregarious woman who always has many irons in the fire, as well as producing one of her Alexandra Cooper mysteries a year.
I still think of her as an Assistant DA in the Sex Crimes Unit. I told her that. She laughed; she said a lot of people still think of her that way and in some ways so does she. She’s Alexandra Cooper on Linda Fairstein’s old stomping ground.
Each novel takes place in New York. One of the locations of “Hellgate” happens to be my neighborhood – East End Avenue where the mayor’s house, Gracie Mansion sits on a knoll at the end of the avenue overlooking the East River and Hellgate. Readers will learn more about that part of New York which often appear on the NYSD including Carl Schurz Park and the Promenade and the two girls schools Brearley and Chapin, as well as the FDR (when an “accident” occurs in the stretch near Gracie Mansion). Human trafficking and the entire political landscape of New York City; that’s the story. Linda knows. She was there, heard it all, seen it all. So has Alexandra Cooper.
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| Click to order [2] Linda's latest thriller. |
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Michael’s busy with the usual suspects. Francesca Stanfill was lunching with Sally Bedell Smith who was up from Washington. Sally is working on a biography of Queen Elizabeth II. She told us she’s about a year away from completion. But she spends a lot of time in London working on it. I asked her if it were “authorized” because she has spent time with the Queen. She did not say it was authorized but she did say that they had been helpful in making research accessible.
Francesca is also working on a history. Sarah Simms Rosenthal stopped by as she was leaving. She too has a book coming out next month. Senator Gillibrand was also there but I don’t think there’s a book in the offing as much as an election. The senator has slimmed down noticeably; she looks good, and energized.
After lunch, since it was such a beautiful day, Linda decided to walk home (she lives on the Upper East Side) and take in the windows along Madison Avenue, one of her favorite haunts when she treats herself after finishing a book. Caught up in the conversation, I joined her. As we parted at 72nd Street, I ran into Erica Jong who is always a pleasure to see. Erica, novelist and poet, is ebullient by nature and warm by heart. I was surrounded by women writers today. It felt like Spring was in the air, in the vibe. |
