The Note
KNOPF, January 2025

New York Times bestselling author—and criminal law professor—Alafair Burke is back with another acclaimed crime novel. In The Note, a vacation in the Hamptons goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history. Described as “a page-turner of the highest order from one of our greatest contemporary suspense writers,” The Note was recommended by numerous media outlets, including The Today Show and CBS Sunday Morning, pushing it quickly to the top of the bestsellers lists.

Burke, who has been called “a genius for plot,” is the author of 15 crime novels and has been published in more than 20 languages. As a member of the faculty at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, she teaches criminal law and procedure and focuses her legal scholarship on the discretionary decisions of prosecutors and police.

Praise: “As a storyteller, Burke is a master knot maker. … Because it’s impossible to give a sense of how very clever the plot of The Note is without ruining the fun of reading it, I’ll simply say that nothing is as it seems. … Burke is also celebrated for her nuanced takes on women’s lives. … Here, it’s the complications of friendship among women that’s the deeper mystery Burke explores.” —Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post