Part of Alexandra Cooper, book 3
First published 2003
District Attorney Alexandra Cooper stares at a disturbing crime scene at Manhattan's northern tip. A woman's body, bound with silk clothing, emerges from the churning waters with hands and feet secured to a ladder. Cooper teams with NYPD detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace to solve the brutal murder. They search for a cold hit, hoping DNA evidence will match someone already in police records and identify their killer. The investigation draws Cooper into Manhattan's elite art scene, from prestigious East Side auction houses to trendy Chelsea galleries. As she navigates this exclusive world of dealers and collectors, Cooper realizes the murderer may have targeted her next. The case becomes personal when she discovers she might be viewed as disposable in a larger, more dangerous plot. Cooper must decode the connections between high-end art dealing and murder before she becomes the next victim pulled from New York's waters.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: personal-stakes, race-against-time
Setting: Chelsea, East Side, Manhattan, New York
Period: 21st-century
464 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Pocket Books
Content warnings: murder, violence