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Rating: 
Summary: THE AVENGER
Review: You work all your life trying to make it only to see yourself passed over for jobs that are rightfully yours. At first you grin and bear it until your temper flares and you strike out in anger. It lands you in jail. You do your time and released. Now you're free. Free to avenge all those wrongs done to you. Free to set the record straight. Johnny MacAlister, the cop who put you behind bars, is dead but his widow, Marti is very much alive. Now is the time to punish her with your death sentence.
Windy City Dying is a marvelous tale of the intricate workings of a killer's mind who is set to right the so-called wrongs done to him by society and the court system. His methodical preying and elimination of his victims evokes feelings of fear as you get into his mind. Marti, is completely oblivious to the murders even though this funny feeling of something is wrong hits her now and again. She ignores it and works on a far more pressing case that takes her and Vik back into their past.
Bland does a sensational job in telling a story that has various twists and turns to the point where you are kept on edge. A man's insatiable lust for revenge impacts upon a foster child who is suspected of murder. Marti and Vik's investigation of the the child's case takes them back to an earlier time when this same child was part of a group of throw away children. Marti and Vik helped those children then but now find themselves having to intervene again.
I enjoyed the book for its intrigue, exploration of the foster care and juvenile justice system and for its showing how disparate events can be interconnected. You also get to see the situation from the avenger's point of view. On top of that you see Marti dealing with the daily challenges of family living and becoming more concerned about those children that she helped years ago. This is one of the best of Bland's books in the Marti MacAlister series.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the GREATEST female detectives!
Review: For fans of Detective Marti MacAlister, this latest in the series is a gratifying read - sure to keep the determined reader up in the wee hours of the night. Marti has moved on from the death of her first husband, but unknowingly someone from the past has it out for the deceased cop Johnny McAllister.Bent on revenge and fresh out of prison, Adrian Quinn still feels he was innocent of his horrendous crimes. One by one he hunts down the people he feels were responsible for his downfall (guilty verdict). Since Johnny has long been deceased, he turns his destructive plans towards Marti, her new husband and their children. Adrian's crimes leads Marti and partner Vik back to an old case from four years earlier involving neglected children. One of the children is now a suspect in a murder case. If you have not ready any of the books in this series by Eleanor Taylor Bland, this book serves as a great introduction to one of the stronger female detectives in the literary world. Detective Marti MacAlister has never appeared larger than life. At times her tough side comes out when dealing with criminals, the men in her field or any injustice. On the flip side, her vulnerability is easily relatable when it comes to her family. All around a very likable heroine.
Rating:
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: In WINDY CITY DYING, Marti McAllister's job as homicide detective in Lincoln Prairie forces her to go back to Chicago, where her husband, also a cop, was killed five years earlier. It seems that one of the men Johnny McAllister helped to put behind bars has an agenda to avenge the wrong he felt was done to him by the system, by the world, and, namely, by Johnny McAllister. Marti and her partner Vik are also reunited with a child from one of their previous cases. Marti and Vik found Jose Ortiz, along with several other throwaway children, living in a library not long after Marti relocated to Lincoln Prairie. Now Jose is accused of murdering his foster sister. It's always tough when kids are involved, and Marti and Vik set out to do what they do best: get the bad guy, whether it's Jose or not. Once again Eleanor Taylor Bland brings the life of Marti and her family to awesome characterization. Her characters are like old friends; consistent people as real as can be. In WINDY CITY DYING, Bland takes the characters to a new level, a feat for which she should be applauded. Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: In WINDY CITY DYING, Marti McAllister's job as homicide detective in Lincoln Prairie forces her to go back to Chicago, where her husband, also a cop, was killed five years earlier. It seems that one of the men Johnny McAllister helped to put behind bars has an agenda to avenge the wrong he felt was done to him by the system, by the world, and, namely, by Johnny McAllister. Marti and her partner Vik are also reunited with a child from one of their previous cases. Marti and Vik found Jose Ortiz, along with several other throwaway children, living in a library not long after Marti relocated to Lincoln Prairie. Now Jose is accused of murdering his foster sister. It's always tough when kids are involved, and Marti and Vik set out to do what they do best: get the bad guy, whether it's Jose or not. Once again Eleanor Taylor Bland brings the life of Marti and her family to awesome characterization. Her characters are like old friends; consistent people as real as can be. In WINDY CITY DYING, Bland takes the characters to a new level, a feat for which she should be applauded. Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Her Best Work
Review: Once Again Eleanor Taylor Bland delivers a real to life suspense, mystery thriller in Windy City Dying. The Heroine-Marti MacAlister is a lady cop being tracked by a psycho/murderer but she doesn't know it. Many years prior her deceased husband (who was also a cop and was killed in the line of duty) had put this murderer behind bars for killing someone. Now the murderer is out and wants revenge but the cop (Macalister's husband ) is dead so he goes after her and all the jurors and the judge that placed him in prison for so many years. This is Bland's best work-I guarantee you will not put this book down until the end--and what an end it is. I love all of the Marti Macalister novels and hope the next one is just as good. The characters are real and the events really make you think about your own life and the decisions you make. Eleanor Taylor Bland is a gifted writer and I hope she continues doing quality work. Enjoy this book-5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: insightful police procedural
Review: Prairie Hills homicide detective Marti MacAlister doesn't pay any attention to the notice saying that Adrian Quinn is being released on parole because she doesn't know the felon as it was her dead husband Johnny who was one of the arresting officers. Johnny never spoke about the case to her. Marti has made a very big mistake not paying any attention to that notice because Adrian plans to take revenge on everyone responsible for being incarcerated. His diabolical plan begins when he breaks into his defense attorney's home killing a person he assumes is one of his children, but instead murdered a foster child. The other foster child is blamed for the killing. Marti and her partner work the case not realizing that this murder has nothing to do with the girl who was killed. Their investigation takes them down many false trails while Adrian kills or severely injures many people, including two Chicago police officers. Marti doesn't realize until it is almost too late that she is scheduled to be his last victim before he takes off for Mexico. After reading WINDY CITY DYING, every reader will understand what a police officer has to put up with and the fear they feel every day they go out on the streets not just to themselves but too their loved ones as well. Part of the story is told from the killer's warped "logical" point of view. Adrian feels no guilt or remorse for what he is doing, including killing innocents who had nothing to do with his being sent to prison, because he believes this is his divine right. Harriet Klausner
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