Death Dance, Linda Fairstein
Death Dance, Linda Fairstein
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Death Dance

Author: Linda Fairstein

Narrator: Blair Brown

Abridged: 5 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/17/2006


Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Linda Fairstein takes readers behind the scenes of New York City's theater world -- from Lincoln Center to the lights of Broadway -- in a riveting novel, rich with her trademark blend of cutting-edge legal issues, skillful detective work, and heart-stopping suspense.

Teaming up with longtime friends -- NYPD's Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace -- Assistant DA Alex Cooper investigates the disappearance of world-famous dancer Natalya Galinova, who has suddenly vanished backstage at Lincoln Center's Metropolitan Opera House -- during a performance.

The three colleagues are soon drawn into the machinations of New York City's secretive theatrical community, where ambition takes many forms, including those most deadly. Among Galinova's lovers is Joe Berk, the colorful, strong-willed boss of the Berk Organization, one of four family companies that own all the legitimate theaters on Broadway. The aging ballerina was using Berk to help revive her career at the time of her disappearance.

Cooper, Chapman, and Wallace go underground and backstage at the Met, explore Berk's unusual apartment on top of the Belasco Theatre with its rumored ghostly resident, and then discover bizarre circumstances at City Center, which has a peculiar history not one of them knew about until now.

Within the glamorous but sordid inner sanctums of the Broadway elite, the team confronts the ruthless power brokers who control both the stars and the stages where they appear. They meet Joe's niece Mona Berk, who is mounting a vicious campaign to extract her share of the family fortune, and stunning starlet Lucy DeVore, whose beauty may be her fatal undoing. Chet Dobbis is the artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, and therefore privy to the most scandalous exploits among its famous inhabitants. He also knows every inch of the labyrinthine building into which the ballerina disappeared...

Meanwhile, Alex is working on a very different case, using a creative technique to nab a physician who has been drugging women in order to assault them. As Dr. Selim Sengor eludes capture, Alex must navigate the new investigative world of DFSA -- drug-facilitated sexual assault -- intent on proving him guilty.

Complicating her quest is the explosive legal and ethical dilemma of using the existing DNA databank to solve new cases. Can Alex convince a judge to let her prosecute a man for a violent crime using DNA that was collected for a prior case in which he was never charged? Or do the suspect's civil rights prevent law enforcement from keeping his DNA on file to be used against him at any future time?

Death Dance is a spellbinding thriller combining a former prosecutor's fresh insight into hot-button legal issues with the unique history and spectacle of New York theater, and its shocking twists make this novel Linda Fairstein's most chilling adventure yet.

About Linda Fairstein

Linda Fairstein was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.

About Blair Brown

Blair Brown appeared on Broadway in Copenhagen (Tony Award), Cabaret, James Joyce's The Dead, and Arcadia. Favorite film credits include Dogville, Continental Divide, and Altered States. On television, she starred in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and has appeared in countless mini-series and TV movies.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Janice on 2007-06-22 19:03:58

Like most of the alex cooper books by Linda Fairstein, the plot, the characters and the set, NYC, are smart and interesting. I want to read all of the series over again and can't wait for any new ones!

Goodreads review by Paul on March 03, 2025

"Overture ... curtain, lights! This is it ... we'll hit the heights!” When New York Assistant DA Alex Cooper teams up with her police colleagues, Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, to solve the murder of prima ballerina and outrageous diva, Natalya Galinova, readers are treated to a backstage tour......more

Goodreads review by Richard on December 07, 2013

The murder and the other cases in this story were acceptable, but the ending was much too long and much too unbelievable for me. There was too much Mike and his grief and his unlawful behavior. There is always too much insulting of Alex by Mike to my way of thinking but in this one it was a bit over......more

Goodreads review by Susannah on December 20, 2015

Outstanding! Alex, Mike, and Mercer investigate the murder of a prima ballerina at the Met. Initially, there are hundreds of suspect, from all walks of life, including an assortment from Broadway theaters.......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on January 04, 2009

Fairstein's books are interesting because she takes her readers on a different virtual tour of New York City in every book. In this case, it is the world of theater--the Broadway stage, the Met, and the City Center. Her thorough research is so well incorporated into the action of the novel that "Dea......more

Goodreads review by Michell on May 23, 2015

Great Read I love Linda Fairstein. The history she gives in her novels is great. I learn something new with every read.......more