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Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper works to uncover a link between a serial killer and a body that has been discovered in a nineteenth-century brownstone formerly belonging to Edgar Allan Poe.

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20 reviews
I have to admit that it was the connection to Edgar Allan Poe that got me to read this book. I have a weakness for books with some connection with famous authors/actors/people. So, when I read the description of the book about a dead body being found entombed standing behind a brick wall in a house that Edgar Allan Poe had lived in, then I just had to read the book!

Since this is the first book I have read in this series, and also the very first book I have read by Linda Fairstein was I curious to see how the book would be. Sometimes it's easy to get into stories despite it being a book in the middle of a series. Luckily, I quickly found myself intrigued with the story and I absolutely loved the characters. I found Alexandra Cooper to be show more a woman to my liking. Recently single, but not a depressed, but a strong and competent woman that doesn't mind being single. Her tragic past with her dead fiance made me like her even more and I read the book wanting to get to know more about her. Then, we have her friends and colleagues detectives Mercer Wallace and Mike Chapman, both two great guys. I loved this dynamic trio and they made the book truly enjoyable. It didn't hurt that the story got pretty intensive now and then.

The cases in the book, both the rapist case and the-dead-woman-behind-the-wall case was interesting, though I have to admit that the case with the entombed was a bit more interesting to follow than the rapist case (hence the 4.5 rating). Still, it's a pretty awesome book and I have already ordered two books from Amazon since I want to know what happens next!

So, I have found this series to my liking and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Linda Fairstein.

4.5 stars

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I enjoyed this Alexander Cooper book that centered around Edgar Allan Poe. I grew up outside Baltimore, where Poe died. I read all his stories and heard all the folklore associated with him. Fairstein does a good job of pulling those stories together with one of Cooper's cases.
This was a fun read. My introduction to Alexandra Cooper. Witty and literate, a nice addition to the sleuth series. A fine beach book, as I'm certain any of hers would be.
½
I read this on holiday and it was a great holiday book.
A decent thriller type book but not too gory. Interesting connection with Edgar Allan Poe and introduction to Alex Cooper.
I'm now reading others in the series to see how they compare.
An Alexandra Cooper book about the Silk Stocking serial rapist and a series of murders with similarities to the works of Poe. Great book that kept my interest the entire time.
Workers demolishing a nineteenth-century brownstone where Edgar Allan Poe once lived discover a human skeleton entombed -- standing -- behind a brick wall. When sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper hears about the case, it strikes her as a classic Poe scene...except that forensic evidence shows that this young woman died within the last twenty-five years. Meanwhile, Alex's old nemesis the Silk Stocking Rapist is once again terrorizing Manhattan's Upper East Side. The attacks soon escalate to murder, and the search leads Alex and detectives Mercer Wallace and Mike Chapman to the city's stunning Bronx Botanical Gardens. There, an enigmatic librarian presides over the Raven Society, a group devoted to the work of Poe.
This was an show more engrossing read. There's a lot of detail about Poe (and who knows if it is correct) but certainly we have all read some Poe at some time. I can believe too the claim made in the book that Poe was the originator of the detective novel. . There were parts of the novel which were very Poe-ish in their macabre-ness and suspense. At the same time it moves at a smart pace and there are lots of little weblike links binding it all together.
I didn't find this as dark as some of the earlier Fairstein's that I have read. There's some intersting coments too on how modern technology that can help track a culprit down - DNA of course, but Metro transport tickets??
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It was the raven on the cover of the cd box that caught my attention when I boiugh Entomber by Alexandra Cooper. I love Poe's poetry and stories. There was considerable background on Poe's life including some information that I did not know before. For me that was the main interest of this story. The dialogue was witty and kept me listening but I kept feeling that something had been left out. Then last night when I played the last disc, it was said that this is the abridged edition. Of course I hit the palm of my hand on my head. Usually I am able to enjoy and piece together the story when it is abridged but I always try to get the fill edition of any book just because it is a better experience for me.

There were several concurrent show more stories in this audiobook but I preferred the one that turned out to be a copy cat of the murder in Edgar Allan Poe's story. I think there is plenty of bone chilling fear involved in being buried alive behind a brick wall. Why even have the other two stories?

So I gave this audiobook an OK rating. I really enjoyed the parts connected to Poe but got lost when it came to the other two stories. From now on, I plan to bring a magnifying glass to read the fine print on the audiobook box.
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Author Information

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66+ Works 15,169 Members
Linda Fairstein was born in Mt. Vernon, New York on May 5, 1947. She received a B. A. in English literature from Vassar College in 1969 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1972. She was appointed to the staff of the New York County District Attorney's office in 1972. She investigated crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence. show more She retired in 2002. She is the author of the Alexandra Cooper Mysteries series and one nonfiction book entitled Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Some Editions

Dorlan, Marie (Translator)

Awards and Honors

Series

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Entombed
Original title
Entombed
Original publication date
2005
People/Characters
Alexandra "Alex" Cooper; Mike Chapman; Mercer Wallace
Important places
New York, New York, USA
Epigraph
To be buried while alive is, beyond questions, the most terrific of . . . extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality . . . We know of nothing so agonizing upon Earth-we can dream of nothing half so hideous in... (show all) the realms of the nethermost Hell.
-Edgar Allan Poe
The Premature Burial
Dedication
For the Fairsteins -
Guy and Marisa,
Lisa and Marc
With love, laughter, and admiration
First words
I looked at the pool of dried blood that covered the third-floor landing of a brownstone on one of the safest residential blocks in Manhattan and wondered how the young woman who'd been left here to die yesterday, her chest p... (show all)ierced by a steak knife, could still be alive this afternoon.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Mercer pulled up a stool opposite me and stroked my head until I lifted my eyes to look at him. "Let the man go, Alex. Just let him go."
Blurbers
DeMille, Nelson; Grafton, Sue; Connelly, Michael

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Mystery
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3556 .A3654 .E57Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
1,149
Popularity
21,712
Reviews
19
Rating
½ (3.48)
Languages
English, French, German
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
33
ASINs
11