Sometimes my readers ask which characters in my stories are real and which are not. This is a work of fiction, of course, so none of the people portrayed in these pages are “real.” Occasionally, I pay homage to friends for whom I have enormous respect, and they are named as such. One example is the incomparable Andre Soltner—and his wife, Simone—who truly built Lutèce into America’s greatest restaurant, as described in a book by one of my sources, Irene Daria (Lutèce: A Day in the Life of America’s Greatest Restaurant).
But Lutèce was actually created by my dear friend, Andre Surmain, who hired Soltner and later sold the restaurant to him. All the “firsts” Luc Rouget lists to describe his father’s accomplishments were the brainstorms of Surmain—who has four wonderful children, none of whom resembles Luc, nor Luc’s estranged wife, Brigitte. Many, many years ago, I did spend countless delightful hours in the village of Mougins, dining at Le Relais and marveling at the difficulties of keeping a three-star restaurant at the top of its game. So a special thanks to Andre Surmain—a genius at that business, both artist and showman—for such a delicious introduction to the sometimes treacherous world of fine food and wine. And merci again to Andre, Jean-Paul Battaglia, and Mitch and Sarah Rosenthal for those death-defying trips on the Ducati from Mougins all along the Côte d’Azur.
Ken Aretsky’s Patroon is one of my favorite places in town. Though I take fictional liberties with a lot of my characters, it’s an understatement to say that Diana Lyne and Ken run one of the classiest eateries in New York and answered all my restaurant questions over divine food and first-class wine. Reserve now—you’ll love the wine cellar.
After thirty years as a prosecutor, it’s impossible for me to turn off my imagination when I read about cases in the morning news. And when sex crimes become high-profile matters, I’m often called on by national media to discuss the facts and issues. To this day, wherever I go, people ask me about the man known to the world as DSK—the prominent Frenchman who was charged with a crime in a Manhattan hotel room. I had no inside track on the investigation—no leaks at all—but I had the same intense curiosity as much of the world, and so I decided to create a fictional case with similar issues, working it with my own experience and my own “dream team” of colleagues. Cyrus Vance, the District Attorney of New York County, is my great friend. He is not the DA in this series of books. Paul Battaglia was created fifteen years before Vance was elected to the job, and it is Battaglia’s oversight of the DA’s office that shapes Alex Cooper’s investigation, as it has in every previous book in the series. The actions Battaglia takes are entirely fictional. None of them are based on real events, which were no more than a spark of inspiration for something that would have been within my characters’ legal jurisdiction. There are no similarities between the scenes in this novel and reality.
There were so many articles and books—most of them mouth-watering—that I relied on for detail in creating this story. As always, The New York Times was an invaluable source of information. In particular, articles by Liesl Schillinger, Al Baker, Eric Asimov, Sean Wilsey, Douglas Martin, Ben Schott, David Segal, Joyce Wadler, Lizette Alvarez, and J. David Goodman all enlightened and amused me. Benjamin Wallace’s Town & Country piece about “Buried Treasure” was invaluable, too. The books I most enjoyed were William Grimes’s Appetite City, H. Peter Kriendler’s 21: Every Day Was New Year’s Eve, and Marilyn Kaytor’s 21: The Life and Times of New York’s Favorite Club. Though the books by Anthony Bourdain didn’t make it into my novel, they make superb reading on the subject of food.
I’m so happy with my Dutton family—their expertise and their kindness—Brian Tart, Ben Sevier, Christine Ball, Jamie McDonald, Jessica Horvath, Carrie Swetonic, Susan Schwartz, and Dick Heffernan. And the same to my Little, Brown group in the UK, to David Shelley, Catherine Burke, and all.
Esther Newberg of ICM, great friend and fearless agent, negotiated me through a year of very rough waters, aided by the extremely efficient and ever-cheerful Kari Stuart. Mark Gordon and Josie Freedman—thanks, too…and keep trying, will you?
It is impossible for me to express, in the cold type of the written page, what friendship has meant to me in the months that I was trying to create this book. There are too many meaningful names to note them all, but how fortunate Justin and I were to have been embraced by such loving friends.
To Matt and Alex Zavislan, Lisa and Marc Fairstein—who gave us sunshine and hope with every call and visit.
To the women who are my proudest legacy in the law, for their stories and evenings out, dining and wining me with TLC—Martha Bashford, Ann Donnelly, Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, Audrey Moore, Melissa Mourges, and Kerry O’Connell. And to the eight great ladies who have lunched with me once every month for twenty years, “dressing the window” at table #1 at Michael’s Restaurant, cheers!
To my favorite doctor, Stanley Schrem, whose skill and compassion allowed Justin to thrive against all odds for so very long; and to doctors Jeff Zack and Sean Kelly—our island medical miracle workers—who partnered with the fantastic nurses at VNA to give us one more spectacular Vineyard summer.
To Louise Grunwald, who has a gift for friendship that is unparalleled. Not only did her “angel flight” to the Vineyard with Ann and Donovan Moore provide days of laughter and happy memories, but she was beside me in the darkest hours, without fail. To Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, who gave new meaning to the expression “night watch” at a most vulnerable moment in my life. Martin and Pinks London, Karen Cooper, Alex Cooper, Susan and Allison Davis, Ann and Vernon Jordan, Alex Denman and Ben Stein, Joan and Bernie Carl, Nancy Clair and Ric Patterson, Cyrus and Peggy Vance, Patty and David Schulte, Colleen McMahon and Frank Sica, Ann and Mike Toth, Alan Levine, Tessa Sookran, Bill Solon, Peter O’Hayer, Allan Howe, and my family—Fairsteins, Feldmans, Zavislans, and David Braunstein—I smile again because of you.
Rabin Sooklall is simply the best person on this planet—and I think of his exquisite care, his loyalty, and his grace every single day.
For my beloved Justin—your dignity, courage, wisdom, brilliance, humor, joy, and boundless capacity for love will live in my heart forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Fairstein is America’s foremost legal expert on crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence. She led the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for twenty-six years. Her thirteen previous Alexandra Cooper novels have been critically acclaimed international bestsellers, translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha’s Vineyard.
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