Dead Time (Marti Macalister Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Eleanor Taylor Bland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2001 | Series: Marti Macalister Mysteries

Eleanor Taylor Bland's legions of fans, as well as new readers, will now be able to read the highly acclaimed novel that launched one of the first-- and one of the best-- mystery series written by an African American writer about an African American female cop. Dead Time will take you on an exhilarating ride through the streets of Chicago with one of the most unforgettable characters in mystery fiction today...

Black, widowed, and mother of two, police detective Marti MacAlister has relocated from Chicago to Lincoln Prairie, Illinois, only to be confronted with small-town attitudes and a partner who's not sure women belong in homicide. But Matthew "Vik" Jessenovik's old-fashioned thinking is far less compelling a problem than a brutal murder at the Cramer Hotel, home to the elderly, poor, and mentally ill.

When Marti and Vik discover that two abandoned children might have seen the killer, the case becomes even more urgent as Marti must use all of her street smarts to find a killer who is desperate to eliminate any possible witnesses to the crime-- even if it's two innocent homeless kids...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An auspicious debut, this gritty procedural introduces Marti MacAlister, a black woman detective in Lincoln Prairie, Ill., near Chicago. The Cramer Hotel, a local flophouse, becomes the scene of a crime when Lauretta Dorsey, a schizophrenic who had fled her wealthy family years before, is found murdered in her room. Marti, who has moved from Chicago after her husband's recent death, investigates the victim's background and discovers several secrets in her past. Lauretta had received a psychiatric discharge from the Navy during the Vietnam war; her fiance had mysteriously died. Evidence that some abandoned children who witnessed the crime are being stalked by the killer plus two more deaths in the hotel prod Marti to step up the search for the children. Bland handles the evolving relationship between Marti and a white male partner unsure of women's place in the police world with sensitivity and humor, while evoking with chilling reality the plight of the endangered children and the mentally ill.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Detective Marti McAlister, female, black, and formerly with the Chicago police, now works in much smaller Lincoln Prairie, which has similar crime problems. Marti and cohorts investigate the murder of an inoffensive but neurotic woman in a seedy residential hotel. When the killer begins eliminating possible witnesses, Marti desperately tries to locate several scavenging children before the murderer does. First novelist Bland competently incorporates the minutiae of police procedure with Marti's additional burdens of widowed parenthood, but in a detached and often flat manner that will leave most readers untouched.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312977190
• ISBN-13: 978-0312977191
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #402,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!!!!, April 15, 1999

By 

greenom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Time (Signet) (Paperback)

This book was good reading. Bland presented a mystery with an edge of suspense. The reading is easy and fast. Once you start, you will not put it down until you finish.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, July 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Wheeling IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Time (Signet) (Paperback)

This is the first book that I have read by Taylor-Bland. I happened to run across it at the library. It was great I finished it in less than two days. It kept my interest from the very first page.I am looking forward to reading all of her books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent., July 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Time (Signet) (Paperback)

Talylor-Bland has done it again. This is the 3rd book in her series that I have read. She is magnificent mystery writer.

She will keep you guessing as to "who done it", but in the end you are usually surprised.

Keep up the good work Eleanor. I am reading "Done Wrong" now. I am sure it will be as good as the others.