kirk w. brown asked Alafair Burke:

What a nice book, what a shame the author had to stoop to such low depths as claiming that our President Trump is a rapist. Shameful! Not reading any more of Alafair Burke's books? Nope!

Alafair Burke In THE WIFE, a character in law enforcement notes the pattern that when one woman comes forward with a complaint of sexual abuse, others often come forward as well. First, readers are mistaken to attribute statements by fictional characters to an author. I've had characters utter beliefs that I abhor. In this instance, however, the character's statement is an assertion of fact. It is a fact that nineteen women have accused the current President of sexual misconduct. The character in question, an experienced sex offense investigator, views those claims as part of a larger cultural and legal phenomenon. The same conversation--indeed, the entire novel--explores the trickier question of whether to believe those claims. And, to be clear, the initial complaint they are discussing is not of rape. It is, in fact, something that the criminal law would consider less serious than some of the acts alleged against the President.

One can choose not to believe the President's accusers, but to deny that the claims exist is, in my view, indefensible. If I lose readers by situating my fictional work in the actual, fact-based world, I can live with that.

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