LETHAL LEGACY

TITLE: LETHAL LEGACY
AUTHOR: LINDA FAIRSTEIN
Pages: 367
Date: 17/07/2009
Grade: 5
Details: no. 11 Alexandra Cooper Mystery
Own

This mystery starts when Alexandra Cooper and Mike Chapman are called to the apartment of Tina Barr, who has been assaulted. Tina, however, flatly refuses to cooperate with them and runs away when she's transported to a hospital.
Within days Cooper and Chapman are back at the apartment, this time to deal with a murdered woman. The woman, however, isn't Tina Barr, who is still missing. The victim is clutching an old book, inlaid with jewels and obviously valuable. This clue leads the investigators to the New York Public Library where it turns out, Tina used to work. Here they are thrown into the world of valuable, rare old books and maps and dealing with people who would do anything to get their hands on these items.
Although this book did contain murders which were investigated, it didn't really read like a mystery. In many ways this book was an ode to books, history and libraries. Something I, who is a librarian and a lover of books with a keen interest in history, greatly appreciated. In fact, the further I got into the book, the less I cared about the actual murders and the more I wanted to know about the books.
As Linda Fairstein says in the acknowledgements: "Wherever you are, use your libraries and support them."