Lots of the action in LETHAL LEGACY is set in the New York Public Library.  During your research there, what secrets did you uncover?

First of all, I was incredibly lucky to get the most amazing access to the NYPL - more than I ever imagined.  I had put off doing this story because I was so afraid that a genre writer like me would be rejected by the scholars in charge of the majestic library.  One of my closest, most generous friends is on the board of trustees and she made the introduction for me to David Ferriero, to whom the book is dedicated, and he's the #2 guy, director of the research libraries of the NYPL.  David not only invited me for days and days, but he participated in the personal tours I was given of every remote and private area of the building, from the rooftop to the seven floors of underground stacks.  Doubleday filmed a video in which I take readers to several of these places within the library - like the Conservation Lab (the original bindery), where I was shocked to find an array of the deadliest weapons I'd ever seen.  You can check out the video on my website, www.lindafairstein.com.  We also found that there was an apartment inside the building that was originally built as the home of the chief engineer, a century ago.  And I got to hold and examine things like Keats' last letter to his lover, Fanny, and priceless maps of every kind.

How has Alex grown as a person since FINAL JEOPARDY, the first in the series?

Alex has grown enormously throughout the books because of the things she has experienced in her work - the brutal crimes, the professionalism of her colleagues' work, the response of her victims to changes in law and forensic technology.  Her own personal relationships - those intimate ones that were able to survive the 24/7 nature of her work and those that didn't - also help her evolve.  Fortunately, while she has grown emotionally and intellectually, she only ages about three months per novel.  So although she's not much older, she's much wiser.

You spent thirty years in the Manhattan DA's Office.  It's just like Law and Order, right?

Right. (Please allow a few moments for all the cops and prosecutors who are laughing to stop).  I had a truly unique experience in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.  It was my first job out of law school in 1972 (only a dozen women in my law school class at the University of Virginia - very typical of the times), and there were only seven women on the staff of 180 lawyers.  No women had been allowed to try homicides then, and there was no Special Victims Unit in any prosecutorial office or police department in this country.  I took over the pioneering SVU unit in our office shortly after it was founded (1976), and stayed in the office for thirty years - it's the work that kept me there so long.  During that time, we were able to draft new laws and lobby for legislative reform, and create some of the most innovative prosecutorial techniques imaginable.   I was one of the first lawyers to be introduced to DNA technology (my three favorite letters of the alphabet), and used the science for three years to exonerate men before it was finally accepted in court as a valid technique in 1989.  Dick Wolf is a genius.  And aside from the original L and O "mother ship" program, as they call it, he ripped my professional life from the headlines when he created the SVU show a decade ago.  But I am very friendly with Mariska Hargitay (the fabulous Detective Olivia Benson) and Stephanie March (who starred as sex crimes prosecutor Alex Cabot- the initials a nod to my Alex Cooper).  The shows are great entertainment, and I only wish  Wolf had asked me to be a consultant.
 
You led the Manhattan Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit.  What's the difference between prosecuting sex offenders and writing about them?

As difficult as writing can be and as solitary as it is, it is an absolute lark to write novels instead of prosecuting sex offenders.  In that job, we literally held in our hands every day the lives of victims and suspects - making decisions about who was telling the truth and who would be exposed to a jury trial, often resulting in a life sentence to state prison.  The stress of the DA's position in a big-city prosecutor's office is enormous, and while I love to write, I miss the immediacy and challenge of the law job every day.  That's why I try to live it in my crime fiction.

How do your experiences in the DA's Office color your view of the society we live in?

Thirty years in the Manhattan DA's Office opened my eyes to things I'd never been prepared for in my youth or throughout my education.  I grew up in a suburb of New York - kind of an Ozzie and Harriet/Leave it to Beaver family life.  I was never exposed to violent crime or criminals.  I went to an Vassar to major in English literature (always dreaming about writing thrillers, to which I'd been introduced by my father as an adolescent) and a first-rate law school, where most of the students would go on to careers in corporate law or civil work.  It was quite an awakening to get to the Criminal Courthouse in Manhattan.  I'm an optimist and an upbeat person by nature, so I'm still amazed by man's cruelty to man - and woman.  I've always had a sense of humor and understand that most of the depravity I saw firsthand represents a very small percentage of the population.  And those of us who've worked in the criminal justice system for so long think we've seen everything.  Then along comes a senator with a background in law enforcement who patronizes five thousand dollar hookers or a guy who steals fifty billion dollars from friends, charities and people who begged to invest with him.  Truth is so much stranger than fiction - that's certainly something I learned in the DA's Office.

This is your eleventh.  Any chance you and Alex are getting tired of each other?

This is a very logical question, of course, and I'm smiling as I try to answer.  I know the differences between Alex Cooper and me, but the line is blurred for some of my close friends and my readers.  I write in the first person, so she's really got my voice.  On the professional side, she is endowed with all my passions about the crime-fighting job.  On the personal side, she's much younger, thinner, blonder - and has that trust fund (no, I didn't) that enables her to move around so much more than a public servant could normally do.  So for me, it's not like I've created a protagonist out of whole cloth who has a job I never had or views the world in an entirely different way.  Many authors do that, of course, and perhaps I will, too, someday.  There's so much of me in Alex Cooper's thinking - if not her lifestyle - that I must say, immodestly, that I can't imagine getting tired of her.  I really like hanging out with her.

What do you want your readers to take away from LETHAL LEGACY?

The most important thing I wish my readers is that they be well-entertained during the hours they spend with LETHAL LEGACY.  But I also like books in which I learn something along the way - that it's not just car chases and shoot-outs that make a thriller enjoyable.  I want the reader to come with me into this world, which represents an intersection of a thriller and my passion for books and libraries.  The New York Public Library  houses such astounding treasures that it's hard to believe that there are any readers or writers who won't enjoy learning what those two lions that guard the entrance are hiding.  For those who are coming back because it's a new caper with Alex Cooper and Mike Chapman, I don' t think the setting matters much.  The loyal readers who stay attached to their favorite characters will follow them anywhere.  And if you're new to my books, I think I take you into a very interesting world.  The NYPL is a research library - not a lending library - so it represents a collection of extraordinary depth, and to be able to get close to these unique pieces should be fun for anyone who enjoys a good read.

In this age of the Internet and YouTube, a lot of authors have decided that book tours aren't worth the time and effort.  I understand you are touring to publicize LETHAL LEGACY.  So you must disagree?

I really disagree, although I am having a great time using all the Internet action available.  I can only think of four reasons not to tour, if I may start backwards.  Many authors are introverts who don't enjoy all the interaction, but since I miss mixing it up in the courtroom every day, I love being out there with my readers.  Second, if people don't like to travel, that's a reason to stay home.  And third is that last year I had a dreadful time, personally, with my family's health.  My beloved husband was hospitalized the week my book came out, and was in the hospital - a dreadful siege - for nine weeks.  I wouldn't leave his side, and he's doing much better.   Lastly, the ugly truth is that many publishers have cut back and are not paying to tour their authors, which keeps many of them home and on the web.   That's not an issue for me.  Doubleday is enormously supportive and has set up a great tour.  Now, what are the positives?  First, I love being in bookstores and supporting the booksellers who have made this career possible for me.  It's a rough time for them, and it's a real pleasure to make appearances that help them draw readers into the store to sell books.  Second, I just love being out there , meeting and talking to the people who read these books.  I learn something every time I'm on the road, I meet lots of other writers I admire, and I get to hear first-hand what people want to see more of or less of in the books.  The writing, as I've said, is so solitary.  I just love that moment on February 10th when the boxes of LETHAL LEGACY pop open and I hit the road with it.

IMDB says you were the inspiration for fictitious prosecutors Kelly McGillis in THE ACCUSED (1988) and Greta Scacchi in PERSUMED INNOCENT (1990).  Any sniffing around by Hollywood for the Alex Cooper series?

Yes, I'm the "inspiration" for some fictitious characters on the screen - not for the idea of the character, but for coaching in the position.  Kelly McGillis (who has been very public about the fact that she was actually a victim in a case of mine in the 1980's, before she became famous) worked with me when she was cast in The Accused.   And I think Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT is one of the best legal thrillers ever written - except for the fact that the dead woman was a sex crimes prosecutor.  And yes, Greta Scacchi spent some time with me in the courtroom before filming. Lots of others.  If you want to read something funny I wrote about almost having a movie deal, just click here.  To date, there has been some sniffing around - your phrase exactly - but nothing to sign, yet.

You split your time between two islands, Manhattan and Martha's Vineyard.  Is one a better place to write than the other?

I really love both my islands.  We try to get to the Vineyard for four months - mid-June to mid-October.  I find it great to hunker down there and write.  It gets very social in August, but my friends understand now that I like to write all day and then relax with them and some Dewar's in the evening.  We're in Chilmark, which is a tranquil, rural part of the island, so it's very conducive to a quiet day at the computer.   I do all my research in Manhattan, and right now, on a snowy January day, I'm holed up here writing.   There is just so much going on here constantly that the distractions and temptations are non-stop.  I'm "in the zone" now, so most of my friends understand and leave me alone.  The gloomy weather helps.  I can write just about anywhere that I can find a quiet corner and a big, open view.

Contributing editor Keith Raffel wrote DOT DEAD, "without question the most impressive mystery debut of the year" according to Bookreporter.com.