Linda Fairstein - Hell Gate

I watched Liz Arrington stand up, smooth out her jacket, prepare herself to face the magistrate judge and argue for Kendall Reid’s remand without bail. I liked her style.

“You ready to let go of the case, Coop?” Mike asked. “It’s not yours anymore.”

“Done,” I said, with an exaggerated brush of my hands.

“I think I need to keep on Ms. Arrington’s tail this time. She’s a little too intense already.”

“You have such a winning way with the ladies, Detective Chapman,” I said. “Just stay out of her path and let her nail the bastards for me. You owe me that.”

“We’re talking debts now? I seem to remember some promises I’m due to collect on.”

“Ready when you are, Mike. Ready anytime.”

The raging currents in the narrow straight east of Manhattan known as Hell Gate made it a watery grave for scores of men and women for centuries. A magnificent bluff that overlooks that deadly passageway was the site of a merchant’s summer home built in 1799, which eventually became the city’s mayoral residence, rich with its own history and intrigue.

The great public institutions of our large cities are well-known and often well-used. But it is a handful of the oldest private homes in New York City-still standing-that captured my imagination as I set out to explore the nature of some of the political scandals that have become so shockingly commonplace in recent times.

The Historic House Trust of New York City brilliantly preserves many of these buildings-the simple cottage that was the last home of Edgar Allan Poe, or the elegant Morris-Jumel Mansion, a Georgian masterpiece that George Washington seized to use as his headquarters in 1776. My favorite of these is the magnificent Gracie Mansion, operated by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, a member of the trust.

I am grateful to Susan Danilow, director of the Conservancy, who so graciously and warmly introduced me to the treasures of Gracie Mansion, and to the assistant director, Diana Carroll, for whom no inquiry was too insignificant. Although evil things occur around the mansion in this book, they are entirely imaginary and would never happen under the loving eye of the Conservancy, nor during the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose generosity is evident throughout the stunning restoration of “the people’s home.”

Of great interest and help to me were the books New York City’s Gracie Mansion: A History of the Mayor’s House by Mary Black, and Gracie Mansion: A Celebration of New York City’s Mayoral Residence by Ellen Stern. As always, the archives of The New York Times proved invaluable in my research of the city’s history.

I’m thrilled and honored to be at Dutton; thankful to Brian Tart for his patience, persistence, wisdom, and good friendship. Ben Sevier, my editor, has used his strong hand to make this book better, and I look forward to many more volumes together. Christine Ball has already proved to be a smart partner in crime, and Melissa Miller is holding my fingers to the keyboard. I like it here.

David Shelley, Hilary Hale, and their great team at Little, Brown UK have been steadfast and loyal through all of Coop’s capers, and so I thank them all again.

Esther Newberg is first and foremost my great friend. That she has also been my agent, guiding me through professional waters every bit as treacherous as Hell Gate, is one of life’s great bonuses. And to Kari Stuart and Allie Green, who I lean on constantly, thanks to you. A shout-out to Katie Cion, who offered me her name to create a fine new character to hang with Mike and Mercer.

Family and friends, as always, are my supreme joy and encouragement. Welcome, beautiful Isla. And Alice Maude, my precious heart, you are always with me.

My fiercest literary critic-and my most devoted fan-is my great warrior, my husband, Justin Feldman. These books are all for him.

And this one is especially dedicated to the women and men who do the very difficult work of special victims investigations and prosecutions-sexual assaults, domestic violence, and child abuse. They have been my colleagues in the New York County District Attorney’s Office and the New York Police Department, and they will always be my heroes.

Linda Fairstein is America ’s foremost legal expert on crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence. She led the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for twenty-six years. Her eleven previous Alexandra Cooper novels have been critically acclaimed international bestsellers, translated into more than a dozen languages. Fairstein lives in Manhattan and on Martha’s Vineyard.