Acknowledgments

The rare and magnificent object that captured my imagination-"such stuff," the Bard once said, "as dreams are made on"-first came to my attention in an article in The New York Times. Other helpful sources included William Stadiem's Too Rich-The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk; the Sotheby's/Stack's catalog of the July 30, 2002, auction of the 1933 Double Eagle; John Rousmaniere's history of the New York Yacht Club; and Seitz and Miller's The Other Islands of New York City.

I am grateful to Susanne Kirk and all my friends at Scribner and Pocket Books who have made my transition from the prosecutor's office to my writing room such a delightful step.

Esther Newberg is the best friend any writer could hope to have.

My friends and family give me more joy than I can express. And although Justin Feldman is only a cameo in the world of Alexandra Cooper, he is everything to me.

About the Author

Linda Fairstein, America's foremost expert on crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence, led the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan for twenty-five years, leaving in 2002 to write and lecture full-time. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, she is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Her first novel, Final Jeopardy, which introduced the character Alexandra Cooper, was published in 1996 to critical and commercial acclaim and was made into an ABC Movie of the Week starring Dana Delany. Likely to Die, Cold Hit, The Deadhouse, and her most recent novel, The Bone Vault, also achieved international-bestseller status. Her nonfiction book, Sexual Violence, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1994. She lives with her husband in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.