Little, Brown and Dutton drop Linda Fairstein

American author Linda Fairstein has been been dropped by her US publisher Dutton and UK publisher Little, Brown amid controversy around her former role as chief of the Manhattan district attorney’s sex crimes unit and heightened criticism of her involvement in the Central Park Jogger case.

Dutton dropped Fairstein late last week. Little, Brown confirmed it has no plans to publish further Fairstein titles today (Tuesday 11th June). A Little, Brown spokesperson told The Bookseller: "No new titles will be published by Little Brown in the UK."

Fairstein's latest novel from the crime and middle-grade author, Blood Oath, was published by Little, Brown in March and is the latest instalment in the Alex Cooper crime novels which follow the cases of the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney for the Sex Crimes Unit. She has sold 774,714 books for £4.12m according to Nielsen BookScan with her bestseller Entombed (Little, Brown), at 75,872 copies sold.

A representative for Penguin Random House US imprint Dutton told Publishers Weekly it had terminated its publishing contract with Fairstein on Friday. The publisher had no further comment.

Fairstein's books are still listed on the PRH US website with a short biography which describes her as “ America’s foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence”.

Dutton has published more than 20 best-selling crime novels from the attorney since the mid-90s, according to Variety. The decision to terminate coincided with a petition signed by over 125,000 people demanding they cease the working relationship.

New Netflix mini-series "When They See Us" has returned attention to the wrongful conviction of the Central Park Five for the rape of a female jogger in 1989. The teenagers were exonerated in 2002.