Night watch (original 2012; edition 2012)

I was gifted this advance reader's copy by Dutton Press through Shelfari. This book was a good stand-alone suspense. I loved this book. It was the first Linda Fairstein book for me. The book starts with Alexander Cooper on a well-deserved vacation in France with her love-interest, Luc Rouget. A body turns up in a pond which appears to be connected to Luc Rouget. As a New York prosecutor, she is called back to New York for a high-profile case for the Special Sex Crimes Unit. Within hours another floater turns up in water and also appears to be tied to Luc Rouget, as both bodies had a match box advertising the new restaurant Luc plans to open in New York. I loved the complex plot and the well-developed characters. Twists and turns abound and I enjoyed this book from start to finish. There were plenty of surprises that made this a great read for me. I look forward to reading more books in Linda Fairstein's Alexander Cooper series. ( )

Alexandra has finally taken some time for herself and flown off to France to be with her love interest - Luc Rouget - a famous restaurateur - but before she can settle for her 2 week vacation, Luc is caught up in a murder in France and she is called home because of a high profile case.

In NYC Blanca Robies, a hotel housekeeper, has charged Mohammed Gil-Darsin, head of the World Economic Bureau and aspiring president of Ivory Coast, of rape, and the DNA evidence seems to prove it. The investigation started without Alex has numerous problems because of the inexperience in the area of rape victims by the other ADAs who try to take over before Alex can return from France.

The issues for Luc seem to follow him when he too comes to NYC and when the two cases seem to become intertwined, Alex does a lot of soul searching to reconcile her feelings with reality. ( )

Night Watch is the fourteenth mystery in Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper series. This is a ripped from the headlines kind of book. The story not only follows Alex's exploits and her relationship with Luc Rouget, a French restaurateur, the cutthroat restaurant industry both in New York City and France, but also the fact that the powerful leader of a major financial institution (think IMF's Dominique Strauss-Kahn) is brought to his knees by charges of rape. The main reason that I like this series is that Fairstein explores the history in and around the New York CIty. This time, the reader is treated not only to a behind-the-scenes tour of some of America's finest haute cuisine restaurants, but also to the history, dating back to the Prohibition Era, of the various means used to keep the liquor flowing from their camouflaged cellars. Two things hampered my enjoyment of this novel: Luc and the MGD storyline. To be fair, I have never liked Luc and am somewhat baffled he and Alex are still together. Alex’s behavior changes when she is around him, and he tends to be very patronizing in his treatment of her. The second failing of this novel is more universal: the MGD rape case. I found the characters involved in this plot line to be unsympathetic and difficult to respond to—this included the lawyers, victim and perpetrator. Still, the novel was a fun read—3 out of 5 stars. ( )

The latest of Linda Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper series begins with the NYC Prosecutor escaping work for a one-week vacation in France to spend with her love interest, Luc Rouget, a famed restauranteur. Two days later, the body of a young woman is discovered in a pond. The only identification is a matchbook from the restaurant Luc is planning to open in Manhatten. Before Alex can get involved in the case, she is called back to New York by her boss to work on an alleged rape case involving the influential head of the World Economics Bureau, Mohammed Gil-Darsin who has French and Ivory Coast ties and Blanca Robles, a hotel maid from Guatemala. The story is based on the actual case from the US but is fictional. To further complicate matters, a second body is found in New York, that of a young man who also has the matchbook in his pocket but no other identification.
While Alex and the other NYC Police members initially sympathize with Blanca, eventually they begin having a lot of doubts about her honesty, especially after she hires a flamboyant lawyer and institutes a civil suit seeking $50 million. They PD wants to keep Gil-Garsin incarcerated while they try to gather facts and look for previous victims.
Meanwhile, Luc comes to NYC to work on his new restaurant. The time he and Alex spend together is very limited because the department doesn’t want to have their relationship interfere with the rape case since he is connected to the murders by virtue of the matchbooks and having employed the woman at one time. Alec meets some of Luc’s associates and begins to have doubts about him.
One thing I’ve liked about Linda Fairstein’s books is the exploration of the sites of the crimes. This book is different: The locations that are explored are some of the most exclusive restaurants in NYC and a former bomb shelter. They are given a very brief description, mostly about the layout and, in some cases, the history, especially for 21. But there is a reason for this difference. All of the books have Alex referring people to an excellent attorney, Justin Feldman, who was her real-life husband. At one point, someone asks her about utilizing his services noting they met the previous summer in Martha’s Vineyard. She tells him that Justin died the previous autumn. This is reality. Justin Feldman had been quite ill but was able, with medical assistance, to have a final vacation on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 2011 and died that October. Caring for him would have kept Linda from being able to conduct her usual in-depth, on-site research. Her being able to write this book under the circumstances is a wonder.
The story is fast-paced and the plot works. It is an excellent read. ( )

Alex, Mike and Mercer ride again, but this time the trip is a bit disappointing. The main problem is Alex's pain-in-the-ass French boyfriend Luc Rouget, who gets enmeshed in murder investigations in his native Provence and in Manhattan. This makes it hard to get involved with the mystery, or to care much who did what to whom. (The real mystery is why Alex picks such awful guys, particularly when we know that Mr. Right, in the form of Mike, is RIGHT THERE.) Still, I am a Fairstein addict, so bring em on. M. Rouget looks pretty much out of the picture, so let's see what Alex picks up next ----- ( )