Linda Fairstein is a crime novelist and former assistant district attorney. She graduated from Vassar College with a major in English literature in 1969 and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972. She was appointed to the staff of the New York County District Attorneys office in 1972. She investigated crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence. She retired in 2002. She was named Woman of the Year by New Woman Magazine and Glamour in 1993. She is the author of the Alexandra Cooper Mysteries series and several nonfiction books including Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 1994.