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Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: Excitement, romance, danger -- they're all here -- and handled masterfully by author Michael A. Black. Private Investigator Ron Shade, introduced in the first novel A KILLING FROST, is back for more action. Whether he's training for the kickboxing championship, rescuing a kitten, or mixing it up with the bad guys, he's a wonderful character to get to know. I couldn't put this book down because I cared about all the characters and I never knew what might happen next. Black pulls this intiguing story together with subplots that are both intelligent and touching. I enjoyed every moment and I would definitely read it again.
Rating:
Summary: A winner
Review: It is just a few weeks before Ron Shade contends for the Full Contact Karate Heavyweight championship. Meanwhile Ron must eat so he continues to work security jobs such as his work at a downtown Chicago hotel bar. Ron intercedes when a big guy manhandles a female patron. He soon realizes that the thug was roughing his first love high school sweetheart Paula Kittermann. He impregnated her back then, but her parents forced them to separate and Paula had an abortion. Ron takes Paula to his home where they share unprotected sex. The next day he leaves to train, but Paula is gone by the time he returns. Later he learns from his pal Detective George Grieves that someone killed Paula in a hit and run. Her cousin Laurie arrives and hires Ron to investigate what she believes was murder. Knowing he might be the prime suspect, Ron accepts the case not realizing that his opponents do not care about any rules when it comes to keeping the truth from surfacing. This is an engaging private investigative tale that will have readers not only wondering about who killed Paula and why, but also how he did in the big fight (not telling). The story line is a character driven urban noir though Ron is a softy chivalrous knight when it comes to the underdog. The support cast whether their milieu is crime or the ring and Chicago add depth to a fine who-done-it. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A winner
Review: It is just a few weeks before Ron Shade contends for the Full Contact Karate Heavyweight championship. Meanwhile Ron must eat so he continues to work security jobs such as his work at a downtown Chicago hotel bar. Ron intercedes when a big guy manhandles a female patron. He soon realizes that the thug was roughing his first love high school sweetheart Paula Kittermann. He impregnated her back then, but her parents forced them to separate and Paula had an abortion. Ron takes Paula to his home where they share unprotected sex. The next day he leaves to train, but Paula is gone by the time he returns. Later he learns from his pal Detective George Grieves that someone killed Paula in a hit and run. Her cousin Laurie arrives and hires Ron to investigate what she believes was murder. Knowing he might be the prime suspect, Ron accepts the case not realizing that his opponents do not care about any rules when it comes to keeping the truth from surfacing. This is an engaging private investigative tale that will have readers not only wondering about who killed Paula and why, but also how he did in the big fight (not telling). The story line is a character driven urban noir though Ron is a softy chivalrous knight when it comes to the underdog. The support cast whether their milieu is crime or the ring and Chicago add depth to a fine who-done-it. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: An up-and-comer with a bright future
Review: Michael A. Black's second novel, Windy City Knights brings back kickboxing private detective Ron Shade (A Killing Frost) for another 10 rounds on the streets of Chicago.
Shade connects one night with a girlfriend from his distant past, a chance encounter that sets in motion a sequence of events that jeopardizes both his safety and his hopes for the future. Instead of concentrating on his upcoming title fight, he probes deeper into the life of this woman with more than her share of troubles.
Despite a lackluster beginning, Windy City Knights builds in suspense as the author unfurls his plot, nicely developing Shade's character. The characters are the strong part of the book, especially the relationships between Shade and the people in his life.
Black may not quite be ready for a championship bout, but he's definitely an up-and-comer with a bright future.
Rating:
Summary: " I coulda been a Champion"
Review: Terry Malloy's painful plea to his brother Charley identified a young, muscular Marlon Brando to millions in "On the Waterfront." Like Malloy, Ron Shade lingers in anonimity with hopes of becoming a kickboxing Champion. I get the feeling there's a lot of Sergeant Mike Black in the story, both men from a disciplined life filled with a sense of honor. Both of these are integral parts to a character we can like. And I'll certainly read more of Mike Black's effort. In a plain filled with good but predictable authors such as Parker, Crais, George and DeMille, kudos to a new author. But some of the things Ron Shade does are, well, goofy. He meets a girl that he knew a long time ago under vastly different circumstances, doesn't know where she's been for ten years, and then sleeps with her, not on the first date, on the first hour. Then he bemoans having had unprotected sex with her for the next 150 pages. His 'godfathers' on the Police Department who front him in his security agency treat him like a red haired stepchild. He shows up for an interview with a guy who can throw a lot of business their way . . . . with a cat in his pocket. And his new girlfriend smokes, OK, kind of foolish I suppose in the new millenium, but he complains about it for another 100 pages. So I like the guy. But come on. Grow up. Spenser and Elvis make boo boos too but they're pretty serious when it comes to their lives as well. Anyhow, good book, confused main character, good gym scenes . . . if you're a gym rat Mike Black makes you feel an exhausting workout with the salt from the perspiration in your eyes. Good share of surprises and some nice subordinate stories as well. I'll definitely read him again. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury
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