Law and literature collide for author

Two women reported being sexually assaulted by their dentist while under the influence of… Two women reported being sexually assaulted by their dentist while under the influence of sedatives. Police assumed the women had merely suffered from drug-induced hallucinations. Only after an undercover officer experienced the same assault on tape were these women taken seriously.

This was Linda Fairstein’s first high-profile case as a lawyer in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. She spoke Monday at Carnegie Music Hall and used her story to explain that convicting a rapist was never easy in the 1970s.

“It was very heavy lifting,” she said.

As one of seven women on a staff of 170 lawyers, Fairstein specialized in rape and eventually headed the sex crimes prosecution unit. She now works as a full-time novelist — a passion that stems from her childhood.

“I often don’t know whether to say I’m a writer who also happens to be a lawyer or a lawyer who writes books,” she said, explaining that she has a “split personality.”

Throughout her primary education, Fairstein swore she would one day become a writer. But that path was temporarily set aside when her love for public service took over during her time at Vassar College and, eventually, the University of Virginia Law School.

“[Law] basically turned out to be a diversion from my first true love, which has always been literature,” she said.

Upon graduating from law school, Fairstein found herself in New York City, working under District Attorney Frank Hogan. Fairstein explained that being a woman in her position held few advantages.

“Mr. Hogan kept his women separate and apart,” she said. It was years before Fairstein saw the inside of a courtroom.

When Fairstein began her job as a lawyer, New York state legislature demanded that three criteria be met for a conviction of sexual assault: the attacker had to be identified, an explanation of exactly what happened had to be provided, and the use of force during the attack had to be established. It was almost impossible to gather this kind of evidence without today’s technology, Fairstein said.

So when the first forensic capabilities began to surface in 1986, Fairstein witnessed an immediate change in criminal law.

“It has been wonderfully exciting to watch the evolution of this [technology],” she said.

With her vast background in criminal law, Fairstein didn’t find it difficult to transition into writing novels about her experiences.

“I’m not one of those lawyers that started to write to get away from law,” Fairstein said. “The desire to do it was there before.”

Her most popular novels are a part of a seven-book series about a young female lawyer, Alex Cooper, whom Fairstein modeled after herself and her own experiences. She admits, though, that Alex is “younger, thinner and blonder than I am — and perpetually 36.”

Fairstein dated the origins of her interest in mystery and crime back to her childhood, when characters like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes inspired her.

Edgar Allan Poe stands among her most prominent role models as a writer.

“He gave me my first literary nightmare,” she said, crediting him as being the pioneer of crime fiction writers like herself.

Fairstein learned about what Poe made of his troubled life and was reminded of him in the courtroom, she said. When people said their unbearable circumstances in life drove them to lives of crime, she remembered Poe and knew their words were simply excuses.

During her time in Virginia, Fairstein often visited the room in which Poe lived, and she spent much time reading about his life. To this day, Fairstein finds herself touring areas of the Bronx that Poe visited during his residence there.

Fairstein’s interest in New York City translates into her novels, as well. Many novels in her series are set in some of the city’s more notable venues.

“It’s part of the self-branding I do,” she explained.

Fairstein’s plans for the future include writing yet another novel based in the city in which she spent 30 years practicing law. She is writing about the 1980 murder of a violinist at Lincoln Center that occurred between acts of a performance.

Though the popularity of the Alex Cooper series is often the backbone of her future projects, Fairstein admits to having other ambitions. She told the audience that a historical mystery, a children’s series or even the development of a forensic Nancy Drew might be on the horizon.

“I’ve found many places I want to explore,” she said.