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Marti MacAlister #10
Windy City Dying
Marti MacAlister, Eleanor Taylor Bland's popular African-American heroine, is forced to confront some extremely personal demons from long ago-her husband Johnny MacAlister is long-buried, but now someone from Johnny's past is back, looking for him, and Marti fears she knows who it might be.
In the meantime, her work as a suburban Chicago homicide detective has taken her back in time in another way, to a group of children she once counseled, each now four years older and with four more year's worth of problems. There's LaShawna, now seventeen and with her own four-year-old daughter; Padgett, all grown up at twelve but still living with his alcoholic mother; and then Jose, fifteen, who's in the most trouble of them all. He's been accused of murder, but the Jose that Marti remembers could not have committed such a terrible crime. Her first step is to find out what could have happened in the past four years to lead Jose to such a desperate act, and she hopes her second step will be to prove his innocence.
It won't be easy, though; just what's going on with this tight group of kids, and how does it relate to the increasingly foreboding sense of doom Marti gets about the mystery man who's nosing around the remnants of her distant past? She's not sure, but she knows she must figure it all out, and soon, before another of the children, or even Marti herself, falls into grave danger. Windy City Dying is another taut, absorbing read from one of the masters of mystery fiction.
In the meantime, her work as a suburban Chicago homicide detective has taken her back in time in another way, to a group of children she once counseled, each now four years older and with four more year's worth of problems. There's LaShawna, now seventeen and with her own four-year-old daughter; Padgett, all grown up at twelve but still living with his alcoholic mother; and then Jose, fifteen, who's in the most trouble of them all. He's been accused of murder, but the Jose that Marti remembers could not have committed such a terrible crime. Her first step is to find out what could have happened in the past four years to lead Jose to such a desperate act, and she hopes her second step will be to prove his innocence.
It won't be easy, though; just what's going on with this tight group of kids, and how does it relate to the increasingly foreboding sense of doom Marti gets about the mystery man who's nosing around the remnants of her distant past? She's not sure, but she knows she must figure it all out, and soon, before another of the children, or even Marti herself, falls into grave danger. Windy City Dying is another taut, absorbing read from one of the masters of mystery fiction.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2002
7 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Taylor Bland
21 books67 followersEleanor Taylor Bland was an African American writer of crime fiction. She was the creator of Lincoln Prairie, Illinois (based on Waukegan, Illinois) police detective Marti McAllister.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 26, 2021
Best book in the series yet. Marti is targeted by an old case of her dead husband. Very suspenseful.
April 17, 2022
Eleanor Taylor Bland uses this detective novel to investigate the theme of lost children. Falling through cracks and how low is the safety net, if there is one at all.
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June 11, 2025Quick Read, Interesting Story
This was a decent story with multiple story lines. As I'm from Chicago, I enjoyed all of the various location references.
This was a decent story with multiple story lines. As I'm from Chicago, I enjoyed all of the various location references.
June 30, 2010
Bland is good with plot details and keeping the reader in suspense for chapter after chapter. I like Marti MacAlister. And I liked what the author did with the Latino politician character--he's viewed in different ways by different people, and one learns eventually that he isn't as slick as he first appears or as self-serving. Nicely subtle characterization.
Ms. Taylor Bland could have used a decent copyeditor or proofreader for her books; St. Martin's really did her a disservice there. In a previous book two first names were switched, and the incorrect one was used at the beginning of the chapter, totally confusing me for almost three pages until I went back and checked and figured out the error. In this book in almost every case the character's last husband's name is spelled wrong, as "Johnnie" instead of "Johnny." In one paragraph suddenly it's spelled right--and then spelled wrong in the next instance. The book flap copy got it right. Who fell asleep at the switch at St. Martin's? Pathetic.
Ms. Taylor Bland could have used a decent copyeditor or proofreader for her books; St. Martin's really did her a disservice there. In a previous book two first names were switched, and the incorrect one was used at the beginning of the chapter, totally confusing me for almost three pages until I went back and checked and figured out the error. In this book in almost every case the character's last husband's name is spelled wrong, as "Johnnie" instead of "Johnny." In one paragraph suddenly it's spelled right--and then spelled wrong in the next instance. The book flap copy got it right. Who fell asleep at the switch at St. Martin's? Pathetic.
January 15, 2021
Windy City Dying is a generally solid police procedural that takes place in Chicago and its suburbs, starring an interesting, likable, female African-American main character caught up in crimes with multiple echoes of her past. That said, there are way too many named characters in the book for a reader to keep track of, the action is compressed and (except for the killers' many works) left to the last 30 pages, and the cops eat way too many donuts. Okay, that last one isn't really a problem, except in the mind of the MC's daughter (a great character in her own right). Plusses more than outweigh the minuses, but I'm not immediately adding additional Marti MacAlister mysteries to the To Be Read pile. Still, Recommended.
September 3, 2007
I like police procedurals and female protagonists. Eleanor Taylor Bland has added back stories which are just my cup of tea (such as history). And Marti MacAlister and her boyfriend waited until they were married which elevates the author from 'wonderful' to 'best'.
June 2, 2008
This author is from Waukegan, IL. I have read most of the mystery novels she has written and I have enjoyed them all. They all work with the same female detective, Marti MacAlister and take me to places in this town that I live, that I will one day explore.
August 11, 2013
Not the best in her series.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews