Monday, July 23, 2018

The Bronx Zoological Park is Background for a Murder Investigation


Paul Battaglia, New York DA and Alexandria Cooper’s mentor, is dead. He was murdered on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, he fell onto Alex, knocking her down. Alex is not in top form. She’s still suffering from the ordeal of being kidnapped and held hostage. She’s drinking too much and isn’t her usual feisty self.

Her position regrading Battaglia’s death is unclear. Is she a witness or a suspect? When she finds herself taken into protective custody and stashed in a mental hospital in the Bronx, it feels more like she’s being treated as a suspect. However, the ordeal yanks her back into her old self and with Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, she sets off to solve the mystery.

The background information about New York, particularly the Bronx Zoological Park is fascinating, as is the information about exotic animals captured in other countries and smuggled into the US to serve as sport for avid hunters. I was particularly intrigued by Fairstein including information about Justice Scalia’s death at a hunting ranch suggesting foul play.

I was disappointed in Alex in the beginning of the book. She was more passive than usual. However, she recovered and the ending was up to her usual standard. Mike Chapman is a very understanding partner. In spite of Alex’s scratchiness, he took care of her. It wasn’t the best Alex Cooper novel, but it’s a good read with interesting bits of history.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.


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