Silent Mercy
Linda Fairstein, Dutton, $26.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-525-95202-2
In Fairstein's exciting 13th novel to feature New York ADA Alexandra Cooper (after Hell Gate), a middle of the night call brings Alex and NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace to Harlem, where the decapitated body of a young woman has been burning on the steps of the Mount Neboh Baptist Church, originally a synagogue until the neighborhood changed. Initially, the authorities suspect a hate crime until another dead woman turns up at a cathedral in Little Italy a few days later. A religious motive emerges, especially since both victims were considered "outcasts" because of their uncompromising demands about the role of women in organized religion. Meanwhile, Alex is prosecuting a defrocked Catholic priest accused of molesting boys, a high-profile trial that a politically connected bishop wants stopped. Fairstein excels at describing New York's complicated religious history as well as the vagaries of the city's legal and religious politics. 12-city author tour. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/10/2011
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 9 pages - 978-0-14-242875-7
Compact Disc - 978-1-61176-443-7
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4618-2513-5
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-1-101-47601-7
Open Ebook - 978-1-101-46767-1
Paperback - 466 pages - 978-0-7515-4385-8
Paperback - 573 pages - 978-1-59413-527-9
