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The title of Linda Fairstein's newest Alexandra Cooper novel, THE KILLS, has more than one meaning. To Detective Mike Chapman the kills are homicides: "Hunters used that word to describe the slaughter of their prey, and fighter pilots spoke the same language when referring to the downing of enemy planes --- the unnatural termination of lives." And in this thriller we are told that "once [there] were 'kills' all over Lower Manhattan, a vestige from the Dutch colonization that meant 'channels' or 'creeks' … [and one of them] was obviously a viaduct to the shipyards along the Jersey shore."
Complementing this bit of New York City's history and the different ways the word 'kills' is used are the events that surround a deadly hunt for "a legal form, signed by the secretary of the treasury more than half a century ago, that monetized one Double Eagle for King Farouk. That one sheet of paper, smuggled out of Egypt … perhaps after King Farouk was deposed, is necessary if … together with [a coin found in a dead woman's closet] would make [the] possessor a multimillionaire."
King Farouk's obsession for collecting the most unique items in the world is well documented. But rumors surface about whether or not he left the American Double Eagle coin behind when he was deposed. And is it possible that an American CIA agent whose assignment kept him in Cairo somehow stole the treasure? This agent turns out to be related to one of the women in this labyrinthine tale.
But let's start at the beginning of Fairstein's suspenseful and complex mystery. The case begins with Paige Vallis, a rape victim and hopeful rescuer of a little boy. While Ms. Vallis is adamant in her accusation against Andrew Tripping, the crime solving team of Cooper, Chapman and Mercer Wallace, the series' regulars, knows she is holding back vital information: "It's going to be a tough trial," muses one of the characters as testimony begins and just before Vallis turns up dead.
Unfortunately Vallis is not the only rape victim who is murdered; the other is a seemingly indigent eighty-two-year-old woman who appeared to have been raped and then smothered to death with her own pillow. Chapman takes Coop to the scene in the Harlem apartment because he is outraged and wants answers he hopes she can give him. Alexandra understands his frustration but admits she can't tell him precisely what is behind this kind of assault.
As the investigation moves on, the identity of the Harlem victim is uncovered. She is McQueen "Queenie" Ransome, a fan dancer who didn't always use a fan: "In most of the images, there was nothing between the body of McQueen Ransome and the lens of the camera." Deeper digging is rewarded with the information that Queenie had spent time in Egypt. She knew the king. Could she in some way be connected to the Double Eagle?
The third case is that of Tiffany Gatts. "Statutory rape, [l]ittle Tiffany only just turned sweet sixteen," said Chapman. But more than that, her coat belongs to the dead old woman. What possible connection could there be between these two people? How did Tiffany gain ownership of the coat and what does she know about the murder, if anything?
Every mystery story is a puzzle. The conundrum at the center of THE KILLS is: Are the murders and rapes connected in any way? If some link exists between them, what is it and why did the killer strike now? What secrets did each of the dead women take to her grave and what does Tiffany know? How does the Double Eagle fit into any scenario based on the events in the case?
Linda Fairstein, is the former head of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office and was for twenty-five years America's foremost prosecutor of crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence. She traded in her badge for the "blank page" in 1996 when she published her first Alexandra Cooper mystery. THE KILLS is her sixth book in the series and may be her best work to date. Her novels are informed by the twenty-plus years she spent as an ADA and they are infused with a certain snap, crackle and pop so often lacking in police procedurals. Mystery fans can jump right into this series without missing a beat. Enjoy!
(An aside: An ironic and interesting fact --- a current television advertisement is offering gold prints of the American Double Eagle coin in limited lots of five per order. They make no mention of whether or not it is monetized.)
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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