Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
![[Book Cover graphic]](http://www.booksnbytes.com/book_covers/bland_tellnotales.jpg)
Tell No Tales
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Eleanor Taylor Bland
Class/Genre: Mystery Police Procedural
Series: MacAlister-Jessenovik # 7
St. Martin's, Feb 1999, $22.95, 264 pp.
Chicago police detectives Marti MacAlister and her partner Matthew "Vik" Jessenovik struggle to keep their law enforcement work from interceding with their personal lives at a time both deal with radical change. The newly married Marti works on establishing a cohesive family relationship with her new husband Ben and their children. Simultaneously, Vik deals with the muscular deterioration caused by a horrific attack of multiple sclerosis on his suffering spouse Mildred. However, two corpses appear, forcing Marti and Vik to dive head first into their professional lives.
The body of an unidentified mummified woman was found in an abandoned theater owned by the wealthy Cheney family. The second deceased person turns out to be Barnabas Cheney, a mentally disturbed individual. Someone murdered both victims with the only link being Barnabas. As Marti and Vik investigate, clues seem to take them no where until they find a link to Vik's police mentor and hero, former detective Curly Smith, an item threatens to split the team apart.
The seventh novel in the MacAlister-Jessenovik police procedural continues the tradition of multilevel story lines blending into a wonderful novel. The main plot evolves around the murder investigation. However, the secondary plots bring much personal depth including the schism between the former tightly unified detective team. It is the secondary tales that make TELL NO TALES and the fabulous previous books into one of the best representatives of the sub-genre. No one comes away from an Eleanor Taylor Bland reading experience feeling that they tasted a bland novel because of the varying complexities that ultimately flow into an entertaining book.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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