Linda Fairstein and too much realism in fiction

I recently posted on Notorious by Allison Brennan
Read While Walking: Notorious by Allison Brennan, and was wanting to draw a parallel to Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper character (whose name I was having trouble placing. 


In looking it up, I learned that Linda Fairstein was actually a real lawyer (which I never would have guessed from her novels alone) and appears to have been partially responsible for a wrongful conviction.  (I have to think not all of that appeared on the book jacket under the author picture... but note to self, read book jackets.)


The Alex Cooper involve prosecuting attorneys mixing themselves into the investigations, finding and manipulating the facts rather than sitting back and bringing to trial the cases as brought to them by the police.  Not very realistic as I understand court processes, but I sort of liked the throwback to Perry Mason, how he wouldn't sit in his office and wait for clients to come to him, but had to be on the firing line, personally solving the mystery before the case was even brought to trial.


I recognize that's a romanticized view of the practice of criminal law, but sometimes that's what makes fiction fun.


So I'm a little shocked, and a bit disturbed to read that Ms. Fairstein was actually a prosecutor in New York, who (according to the Wikipedia entries) appears to have participated quite actively in the building of cases against potential defendants.  I'm going to need to give some thought to how comfortable I am continuing to read books by Ms. Fairstein.  What is fun in fiction can sometimes be troubling in reality. 


The idea that a prosecutor might picture herself in the role of a romantic, fictional heroine who has to take it upon herself to solve cases because she's the only one smart enough, capable enough and willing enough to do so is not fun and exciting to me, but scary and troubling.  It kind of takes the fun out of the fiction for me I think. 


I had kind of been off Ms. Fairstein for a while, finding the characters just a little too unrealistic.  It's ironic that I'm now off Ms. Fairstein because some of the characters may have been a little too realistic.