Whispers in the Dark

by Eleanor Taylor Bland

Book Overview

Eleanor Taylor Bland's popular African-American heroine, homicide detective Marti MacAlister, and her partner, Matthew Jessenovik, are assigned a most unusual case -- all that's left of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312203799
• ISBN13: 9780312203795
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Missing Pieces

Eleanor Taylor Bland is gifted at bringing all of her subplots to a head. WHISPERS IN THE DARK is the best yet illustration of this talent. Marti McAllister, the only black female cop in the town of Lincoln Prairie, Illinois, is back on the case. This time, Marti and her endearing partner Matthew "Vik" Jessenovik are called out to the scene when an arm is found in the weeds. Marti and Vik have to "piece together" the clues to find out not only why the arm turned up, but, more importantly, the identity of its once owner.Meanwhile, Marti's best friend Sharon has gotten herself in a hairy situation when she marries a man she hardly knows. Sharon is then taken to a remote location in the Bahamas for the so-called honeymoon, but it turns out she's gotten into more drama than she bargained for. This mistake could cost her her life and that of her daughter Lisa.I find that Bland adds a human element to the stories that is unparalleled. Not only does she provide a fabulous mystery, but she also gets the reader attached to all of the characters, both new and recurring. I look forward to many more moving McAllister mysteries.Reviewed by CandaceKof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

2 stories on a theme of mother-love gone bad

While African American police detective Marti Macalister pursues the mystery of the detached arms found in her county, her best friend Sharon considers running from her dying mother by marrying a relative stranger--a man who claims to love her but who tells her little of her past. Arms, without matching fingerprints, offer little hope of any identification and, as the arms were found over a number of years, they might not even be related to one another. Still, there seems to be a possible link to the artistic community. With that slim clue, Marti goes to work. Author Eleanor Taylor Bland is completely convincing in her descriptions of African American life, the extended and generation-skipping families that some of them find themselve in, and in her descriptions of both slum and middle-class black life. The Sharon subplot comes to the forefront in the second half of this novel and is by far the stronger of the two major mysteries. Sharon is a disturbing, often unlikeable, and yet still sympathetic character as she continues to deny the reality that she faces. while Marti is active in pursuing the truth in both of these mysteries, to a large extent, her efforts do not result in the resolution of the crime. Many readers may also find that the two subplots are insufficiently connected t justify being told in a single novel. These two subplots are actually connected by the shared theme of family and the damage that a misplaced or missing mother-love can create, but are unconnected from the plot perspective. Bland's capable writing carries the reader through the plot holes and leads to a reader-satisfying conclusion.

One nail biting story

Marti Macallister and her partner Matthew "Vik" Sessenovik are homicide detectives in the greater Chicago area. Due to a rare lull in active investigations, Marti and Vik decide to check into a recently found defrosting arm and three other arms in the freezer of the morgue. During a forensic examination, they determine the age and sex and that at least two people were somehow involved in the seventies art world. The remaining arms are more recent which adds to the puzzle that the cops are making slow progress on solving. While Marti is involved with her family and job, her friend Sharon, whose daughter Lisa is living with Marti, becomes involved with De Vonte Luthell. He gives her a whirlwind courtship and insists they marry. After the ceremony they go to De Vonte's special place in the Bahamas where he has a special surprise for Sharon and Lisa. Marti, whose case is breaking wide open, has a bad feeling about De Vonte and rushes down to Freeport in the hope that she can prevent Lisa and Sharon from getting hurt. Anyone who wants to witness a quintessential "every woman" novel just has to read a Marti Macallister mystery. She balances her family and job with expert aplomb (with a little help from momma) and she is there when her friends need her. The mystery itself is fascinating because readers get to see a whole case made out of one semi frozen arm. Although readers will despise some of Sharon's choices they will understand why she made them and feel empathy towards her. It would be a shame for mystery fans to pass up such an excellent choice as Whispers.Harriet Klausner