At a time when a person’s history magically disappears in a flash, like former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and Southern District of New York United States Attorney Preet Bharara, for whom being fired by Trump was all that was needed to morph them into social justice heroes despite their entire careers being dedicated to mass incarceration, the naming of former chief of Sex Crimes of the New York County District Attorney’s office as the winner of the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America was surprising, to say the least.

Mystery Writers of America announced the recipients of its 2019 Grand Master Award on Tuesday, but the announcement has been met with more outrage than celebration.

The Grand Master Award, presented at the annual Edgar Awards banquet in New York, is one of the most prestigious distinctions in the mystery genre, an honor held by the likes of Stephen King, Walter Mosley and Agatha Christie. Next year, the award will go to Martin Cruz Smith and Linda Fairstein. I’d heard of Smith, but not Fairstein. And really, I should have known her name. Not for her internationally bestselling Alexandra Cooper series, but because in her former life working for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, she oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five. She shouldn’t be the toast of a black-tie literary gala — she should be notorious.

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We had the occasional exchange on the twitters while he was a lecturer at Harvard Law School, including these when he was promoting court-packing the Supremes. Ian Samuel was about as much of a social justice poster boy as there could be, smugly self-righteous of his tribe and not reluctant to be disdainful, if not attack, the unwoke. We did not, for the most part, see eye to eye.

But when one of his gigs, First Mondays, a podcast about the Supreme Court, twitted about him, I was concerned.

Announcement: Until further notice, Ian Samuel will be on a leave of absence from First Mondays while he tends to personal and family issues. In the meantime, Leah Litman will step up to serve as co-host and co-manager with Dan Epps. The weekly episodes will keep rolling!

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