Entombed (Alexandra Cooper Series #7) » (Abridged, 5 CDs, 6 hours)

Hailed by Patricia Cornwell as "one of the most promising forces in crime fiction," former head of the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Unit Linda Fairstein has hooked readers with her intense mystery series featuring assistant D.A. -- and Fairstein's alter ego -- Alex Cooper.

Workers demolishing a nineteenth-century brownstone where Poe once lived discover a human skeleton standing -- entombed -- behind a brick wall. When assistant district attorney and sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper hears about the case, it strikes her as a classic scene from Poe's fiction...except that forensic evidence shows this young woman died within the last twenty-five years.

Meanwhile, Alex is furious at the news that an old nemesis may be preying on women once again. The Silk Stocking Rapist first struck four years ago, leaving a string of victims in his wake, then abruptly disappeared before Alex and the NYPD could identify him. Now, with improved forensic technology and a national DNA databank to draw...

Publishers Weekly

The specter of Edgar Allan Poe hovers, chillingly, over bestseller Fairstein's seventh thriller featuring Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. Alex's labyrinthine path to a serial killer travels through a lot of forensic evidence and two initially unconnected cases: the Silk Stocking rapist is terrorizing women after a few years' respite and a woman's skeleton is discovered in the wall of an East Village building. Said discovery takes on additional dimension when it's learned that the victim was walled up alive and that the house was once inhabited by Poe. Freelance writer Emily Upshaw appears, at first glance, to be the Silk Stocking rapist's latest victim, but several details feel off to Alex and NYPD detective sidekicks Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace. Emily, it's determined, is the victim of a copycat, but she does have a tenuous link to Poe and to a secret organization called the Raven Society. These are the puzzle pieces that Alex and company work with, in a tale that develops like the proverbial peeled onion, a layer at a time. Alex, fresh from a breakup, also continues her unconsummated flirtation with Mike. It's a tribute to Fairstein's integrity and her clear, measured prose that the novel never tips into prurience. Her methodical presentation of authentic detail engages reader interest more than narrative flourish or cheap thrills. She's the real deal. Agent, Esther Newberg. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.