Dead Time — Eleanor Taylor Bland

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...