Fatal Remains [Paperback]

Eleanor Taylor Bland (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (2003)
• ASIN: B000OTICQQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fatal Remains, September 23, 2005

By 

Popeshistory - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Remains (A Marti MacAlister Mystery) (Hardcover)

I always enjoy Eleanor Taylor Bland's books. Fatal Remains is no exception. Good research into some of the early history of Native, African and European settlers in the Des Plaines area. Her descriptions of Native and African relationships since the European settlement of North America. Research wise, I did wonder about Isiah's supposed Ethiopian ancestors though. That needed explanation given what is generally known about the slave trade.
Bland continued developing the relationship between the two police partners. Her books indicate they have become a well-oiled team over time as well as good friends.
Her story line completely held my attention. I hope Ms. Bland continues to turn out more Marty McAlister stories. They maintain the readers rapt attention without the slash and gore of many of today's detective stories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great! Eleanor is back!, July 1, 2004

By 

P. Rhodes (St Louis, Mo.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Remains (A Marti MacAlister Mystery) (Hardcover)

She's up there with great ones. A pleasure just to read a real sleuthing novel for a change, without a lot of fluff or blaxploitation.

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful and gracefully written, December 8, 2003

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fatal Remains (A Marti MacAlister Mystery) (Hardcover)

Multiple murders dovetail seamlessly with displaced American Indian and fugitive slave history in this latest Marti MacAlister mystery. It all begins with a skeleton on a piece of scrub land in Lincoln Prairie where the African-American former Chicago cop now works and lives with her mother, husband and three children.

The skeleton turns out to be a Potawotami Indian, but before Marti and her partner "Vik" Jessenovick can identify him, a budding archaeologist working on a dig for the prominent Smith family is killed in an apparent accident on the site. The family has been plagued by peculiar accidents throughout its history, which dates from Ibdash Smith, reputed to be a link on the Underground Railroad.

Meanwhile, point of view switches among characters out of the police orbit, which include a black man researching his family history and an Indian trying to put his behind him, as well as the Smith family patriarch, striving to keep the family secrets buried.

These voices give the reader a bit of a lead over the cops, but Marti's boys help fill her in on local history (while Marti reflects on how little was taught of her heritage in her schooldays) while cop smarts and outside experts put them so far inside the picture, they become targets themselves. Bland works family life in without having to create any formula tension and the police procedure is logical, absorbing and spiced with action. A strong series, getting stronger.