“[A] master of her craft… Alafair Burke is the New York Times best-selling crime writer that other best-selling crime writers croon over.” — Los Angeles Review of Books

Alafair Burke is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Edgar Award nominated author of fifteen crime novels, including THE NOTE, THE WIFE, and THE BETTER SISTER, which has been adapted for television on Prime Video. Published in more than twenty languages, her books have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today Show, Entertainment Weekly, People, O (Oprah Magazine), Oprah Daily, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, Sun Sentinel, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and numerous other outlets.

She has been called “a genius for plot” and “one of our greatest contemporary mystery writers.” She has served on the board of the Authors Guild Foundation and as the President of Mystery Writers of America, the first woman of color to be elected to that position. In addition to her own novels, she also co-authored the bestselling Under Suspicion series and a sequel to the iconic WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN with Mary Higgins Clark.

A distinguished graduate of Stanford Law School, Alafair is a full professor at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, where she teaches criminal law and procedure. Her legal scholarship focuses on the discretionary decisions of prosecutors and police, and she frequently serves as a legal commentator for various media outlets. She lives in East Hampton and New York City.

Alafair's Featured Titles

The Note: A Novel

Knopf |
Suspense/Thriller

USA TODAY BESTSELLER • AS RECOMMENDED ON THE TODAY SHOW AND CBS SUNDAY MORNING • From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife comes a suspenseful story about a vacation in the Hamptons that goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history.

“It’s only January, but your perfect summer thriller is here already.”—Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post

“I absolutely loved The Note. Trust no one in this irresistible page-turner.” —Ashley Elston, #1 New York Times best-selling author of First Lie Wins

It was meant to be a harmless prank.

Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing.

But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she’s had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry.

When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.

What had they gone and done?

The Note is a page-turner of the highest order from one of our greatest contemporary suspense writers.

The Better Sister: A Twisty Tale of Domestic Noir with Family Secrets and Murder

Harper |
Suspense/Thriller

Soon to be a Prime Video TV series starring Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel

Washington Post and Sun Sentinel Best Book of the Year

“Cunning. . . . Get ready to be led down the garden path to a conclusion so morally ambiguous a professional ethicist might have to be called in.”  — Washington Post

From Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit The Wifecomes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments. . . but can they escape their past?

Keep your enemies close and your sister closer.

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky—always restless and more than a little reckless—was the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed that both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

The Wife: A Novel of Psychological Suspense

Harper |
Suspense/Thriller

“This might be the most gripping, insightful work from the best-selling author Alafair Burke yet. She poses a seemingly impossible, if undeniably compelling, challenge: a woman must either save her life or defend her husband, but not both.” — Entertainment Weekly

From New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke, a stunning domestic thriller in the vein of Behind Closed Doors and The Woman in Cabin 10—in which a woman must make the impossible choice between defending her husband and saving herself.

His Scandal – Her Secret

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look—at both the man she married and the women she chose not to believe.

This much-anticipated follow-up to Burke’s Edgar-nominated The Ex asks how far a wife will go to protect the man she loves.

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The Accidental Novelist

This honest, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious talk traces Alafair’s unexpected path to becoming a prolific and bestselling author: from a childhood crush on Andy Gibb, to growing up in a town with an active serial killer, to reading Encyclopedia Brown on her weekly trips to the library with her librarian mother, to working in police precincts and criminal courtrooms as a prosecutor, and, finally, to a dream of writing “one little book.” Audience members will realize that it is never too late to find an idea that might just change your life.

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The True Crimes Behind the Books

In this fascinating, personal, fact-based talk, Alafair delves into the true crimes that have affected her as both a former prosecutor and author. After growing up under the shadow of an active and sadistic serial killer in her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, she learned that another killer was prowling the Pacific Northwest when she was in college. Spoiler alert: She ended up having personal contact with both of them. This talk also explores why audiences crave crime stories.

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Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

Alafair has worked as a law professor while also writing fifteen novels and co-authoring another eight with Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark. This talk provides concrete advice for increasing productivity while also living a happy and balanced life.

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Righting (and Writing) Wrongful Convictions

In addition to being a bestselling author, Alafair is also a law professor and nationally recognized expert on police and prosecutorial discretion. In this informative yet entertaining talk, Alafair draws on social science to explore the leading causes of wrongful convictions, including mistaken eyewitness testimony and false confessions. She also includes personal stories about working on a wrongful conviction case that inspired the debut novel that launched her second career.

Alafair’s Events

Alafair’s Newsletter

Honors, Awards & Recognition

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel (THE EX)
Recipient of the Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work by the Women’s National Book Association
Best books of the year lists by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Sun-Sentinel

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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