Les Roberts

Sierra Bravo is a brand-new Chief of Police in an upscale California beach town. The cops she works with adore her, but some of the rich and powerful have little use for her. A strange event-an eleven-year-old girl is brought into a men's washroom in a crowded movie theater-grabs her attention and sends her off into an investigation that turns into a fight against children being turned into sexual victims-for profit. A new romance with a school's vice principal runs into trouble, too, uncovering her own difficult childhood. Don't be surprised-female police chiefs are just as tough as their male counterparts.

In Posthuman Buddhism and the Digital Self, Les Roberts extends his earlier work on spatial anthropology to consider questions of time, spaciousness and the phenomenology of self. Across the book’s four main chapters – which range from David Bowie’s long-standing interest in Buddhism, to street photography of 1980s Liverpool, to the ambient soundscapes of Derek Jarman’s Blue, or to the slow, contemplative cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang – Roberts lays the groundwork for the concept of ‘dwellspace’ as a means by which to unpick the shifting spatial, temporal and experiential modalities of everyday mediascapes. Understood as a particular disposition towards time, Roberts’s foray into dwellspace proceeds from a Pascalian reflection on the self/non-self in which being content in an empty room vies with the demands of having content in an empty room. Taking the idea of posthuman Buddhism as a heuristic lens, Roberts sets in motion a number of interrelated lines of enquiry that prompt renewed focus on questions of boredom, distraction and reverie and cast into sharper relief the psychosocial and creative affordances of ambience, spaciousness and slowness. The book argues that the colonisation of ‘empty time’ by 24/7 digital capitalism has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the corporate mindfulness industry, and with it, the co-option, commodification and digitisation of dwellspace. Posthuman Buddhism is thus in part an exploration of the dialectics of dwellspace that orbits around a creative self-praxis rooted in the negation and dissolution of the self, one of the foundational cornerstones of Buddhist theory and practice.

Russell Reinhart, a well-known author of private eye novels, is released from the Illinois State Prison in Joliet after serving seven years for the involuntary manslaughter of his wife. He returns to Chicago, welcomed home by his top-flight attorney who tucked away all his millions so no one could get hold of them while he was incarcerated, and rented him an elegant apartment in the Near North neighborhood, half a block from Lake Michigan. Reinert was an only child, adopted when an infant, and now he has no one to whom he can turn. His release from prison is reported by the local papers, and he's contacted by a man he's never heard of named Cole Cabot. A few years earlier, Cabot had married Reinert's extra-curricular girlfriend, Aubrey, who has suddenly gone missing. Russ pleads he's no private eye but just writes fiction about them, but worries his ex-lover has disappeared, so agrees to take on the case. He learns Aubrey was also the mistress of one of the world's richest men in America, Gaylord Ogilvie, at the same time she was with him. Having investigative trouble, he is helped by the young son of a man who met while he was in prison, a huge, half-illiterate black man named Denver Tolliver, who saved his life behind bars several times. Denver was locked up for life after killing a police officer, but his college-student son is brilliant loyal, intelligent and wise. Butting heads with Ogilvie and his minions, Russ also falls heads-over-heels in love with Cassidy Hammond, who he met while taking a Michigan Avenue Beach run for the first time in seven years. His adjustment to new freedom makes life more difficult than he'd ever imagined. When he runs into danger that might turn permanent, he hadn't forgotten how Denver Tolliver had taught him to prison-fight, and he eventually learns he's not that much alone as he thought he was. The first words of this book are identical to the last words in the book, too: "I am an only child..."

In Posthuman Buddhism and the Digital Self, Les Roberts extends his earlier work on spatial anthropology to consider questions of time, spaciousness and the phenomenology of self. Across the book’s four main chapters – which range from David Bowie’s long-standing interest in Buddhism, to street photography of 1980s Liverpool, to the ambient soundscapes of Derek Jarman’s Blue, or to the slow, contemplative cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang – Roberts lays the groundwork for the concept of ‘dwellspace’ as a means by which to unpick the shifting spatial, temporal and experiential modalities of everyday mediascapes. Understood as a particular disposition towards time, Roberts’s foray into dwellspace proceeds from a Pascalian reflection on the self/non-self in which being content in an empty room vies with the demands of having content in an empty room. Taking the idea of posthuman Buddhism as a heuristic lens, Roberts sets in motion a number of interrelated lines of enquiry that prompt renewed focus on questions of boredom, distraction and reverie and cast into sharper relief the psychosocial and creative affordances of ambience, spaciousness and slowness. The book argues that the colonisation of ‘empty time’ by 24/7 digital capitalism has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the corporate mindfulness industry, and with it, the co-option, commodification and digitisation of dwellspace. Posthuman Buddhism is thus in part an exploration of the dialectics of dwellspace that orbits around a creative self-praxis rooted in the negation and dissolution of the self, one of the foundational cornerstones of Buddhist theory and practice.

Slovenian-American Jericho Paich finds himself under arrest by snarling Cleveland police cop Keenan Mayo and forced to be a non-paid confidential informant, setting up friends and strangers to be hauled in for illegal drug use. He turns for help to his mother's live-in lover, ex-marine officer Laird Janiver. The two have never gotten along, but Jerry has nowhere else to turn. Janiver, a studious African American major who recalls how to kill, decides to help. That brings the two men into contact with a cruelly efficient albino drug lord, the suicidal memory of a lovely young college girl at OSU, and a beautiful woman with what might be a very dangerous past.

Spatial Anthropology draws together a number of interrelated strands of research focused on landscape, place and cultural memory in the north-west of England. At the core of the book lies an engagement with the methodological opportunities offered by new interdisciplinary frameworks of research and practice that have emerged in the wake of a putative ‘spatial turn’ in arts and humanities scholarship in recent years. The spatial methods explored in the book represent a consolidation of site-specific interventions enacted in landscapes located in the north-west and beyond. Utilising digital tools and geospatial technologies alongside ethnographic, performative and autoethnographic modes of spatio-cultural analysis, spatial anthropology is presented as a geographically immersive and critically reflexive set of practices designed to explore the embodied and increasingly multi-faceted spatialities of place, mobility and memory. From the radically placeless environment of a motorway traffic island, to the ‘affective archipelago’ of former cinema sites, or the ‘songlines’ and micro-geographies of musical memory, Spatial Anthropology offers a rich tapestry of landscapes, practices and spatial stories that speaks to both the particularities of place and locality as well as the more delocalised topographies of regional, national and global mobility.

Spatial Anthropology draws together a number of interrelated strands of research focused on landscape, place and cultural memory in the north-west of England. At the core of the book lies an engagement with the methodological opportunities offered by new interdisciplinary frameworks of research and practice that have emerged in the wake of a putative ‘spatial turn’ in arts and humanities scholarship in recent years. The spatial methods explored in the book represent a consolidation of site-specific interventions enacted in landscapes located in the north-west and beyond. Utilising digital tools and geospatial technologies alongside ethnographic, performative and autoethnographic modes of spatio-cultural analysis, spatial anthropology is presented as a geographically immersive and critically reflexive set of practices designed to explore the embodied and increasingly multi-faceted spatialities of place, mobility and memory. From the radically placeless environment of a motorway traffic island, to the ‘affective archipelago’ of former cinema sites, or the ‘songlines’ and micro-geographies of musical memory, Spatial Anthropology offers a rich tapestry of landscapes, practices and spatial stories that speaks to both the particularities of place and locality as well as the more delocalised topographies of regional, national and global mobility.

#19 in the Milan Jacovich Mystery Series ... When a celebrity-packed motivational event turns deadly, Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich (MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) finds himself caught up in the mess. Milan and his associate Kevin "K. O." O'Bannion are hired as extra security for several high-profile inspirational speakers at a convention in downtown Cleveland, where they get off to a rocky start. Each special guest seems more unpleasant than the last--particularly Tommy Triller, the main draw for the weekend, with an ego to match his bank account. Tensions run high, but Milan thinks they have things covered ... until Triller's dead body is found in his hotel room, a bullet hole between his eyes and a motivational CD jammed in his mouth. Among the suspects are fellow speakers, including southern psychologist Dr. Ben, who resented earning less than Triller; hip hop artist and convicted killer Hy Jinx; and former big-league baseball manager Tony Nardoianni, who might be willing to do almost anything for the right price. Milan figures he and K. O. are out of work when his significant other, Cleveland homicide detective Tobe Blaine, takes charge of the murder case. But to Milan's surprise, his old nemesis and local mob boss Victor Gaimari asks Milan to work for him. Nardoianni owes Victor, who wants to make sure the debt is paid--and that the aging athlete's gambling past stays under wraps as the murder investigation continues. Tobe's not happy to have Milan and K. O. operating on her turf. But a job is a job, and Milan is determined to clear his new client of murder ... by finding the real killer.

#18 in the Milan Jacovich Mystery Series ... Residents of a small Ohio town don't take kindly to strangers. But they have no choice in the matter after a man's body is found in a local park, pants unzipped and stabbed through the heart--and a second man's body turns up days later, his head bashed in. Local law enforcement needs help with the town's first-ever murder investigation. Private investigator Milan Jacovich (MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) tags along when his main squeeze, Cleveland homicide detective Tobe Blaine, is dispatched to rural Ashtabula County to handle the case. Word travels fast in the small town, and the mixed-race couple receives a cold welcome. The motel manager doesn't like their looks, the coroner conveniently forgets key details, and patrons at the local watering hole flaunt their disrespect for Tobe's out-of-town badge and her skin color. Milan enlists his young assistant, Kevin "K. O." O'Bannion, to glean information from the town's teens, who tell tales of their parents' fervent devotion to their local pastor, an outspoken bigot. Did homophobia factor in the murders? Looming over the case is nearby Conneaut prison--privately run, overcrowded, and rumored to employ some questionable methods (as well as many local residents). Inside its walls, a powerful convict known as "The Prophet" just might have the information Tobe and Milan need to solve the case--if they can get him to talk. Queenstown might only be an hour's drive from Cleveland, but Milan, Tobe, and K. O. find themselves strangers in a strange land. They also soon find themselves neck-deep in serious trouble.

#18 in the Milan Jacovich Mystery Series ... The sudden death of a client leads private investigator Milan Jacovich (MY-lan YOCK-ovitich) and new associate Kevin "K. O." O'Bannion behind the scenes at a harness racing track, where they find no shortage of odd characters, suspicious activities . . . and danger. Did wealthy horse owner/driver Glenn Gallagher make one too many enemies in the competitive racing world at Northcoast Downs? (Certainly the track's owner, chilly Chloe Markham, isn't mourning his loss.) Or did someone involved with Gallagher's investment firm want him dead? Things get more complicated when Milan spots local mob boss Victor Gaimari at the funeral. Victor does have a legitimate investment business . . . but his henchman was seen lingering trackside at Northcoast Downs. Is there a connection? Though eager to learn the P. I. business, K. O. still has trouble staying out of trouble. Assigned to dig up some dirt in the horse barns, he tangles with hot-tempered trainer Del Fiddler, who's jealous of his flirtatious and curvaceous wife--and handy with a horse whip. Another body turns up at the track, but the local sheriff's office won't share leads with a private investigator. Milan's new flame, Cleveland police detective Tobe Blaine, can't help; she's out of her jurisdiction in Summit County. Milan finally confronts the killer alone--and once again finds himself in deep trouble

#15 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ... "A fun and fast paced mystery thriller, highly recommended." -- Midwest Book Review A simple missing-person case gets complicated when Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich) discovers that 28-year-old Earl Dacey left behind a strange collection of voyeuristic videos in his mother's West Side Cleveland house. Was Earl just a pervert shadowing Catholic schoolgirls in Northeast Ohio shopping malls with his hidden camera ... or had he become entangled with unsavory characters in the local adult film business? When Milan uncovers a possible link to organized crime, the FBI gets interested--and Milan's "well connected" friend Victor Gaimari gets angry. After a dead body turns up, the Cleveland Police take over, and Milan figures he's off the case. So why does crusty Lieutenant McHargue ask him to lend a hand? Still feeling the effects of a recent concussion and well aware of his aging body, Milan takes the advice of a colleague and hires an assistant. Kevin O'Bannion is young and eager to learn the P. I. business. An Army veteran with combat experience and a juvenile-crime record, he definitely won't shy away from a fight. But will he be able to control his volatile temper and help get the job done? Milan finds out soon enough--with his own life on the line.

Drawing on multi-disciplinary debates surrounding the cultural production of place, space and memory in the post-industrial city, Film, Mobility and Urban Space explores the role of moving images in representations and perceptions of everyday urban landscapes. The arguments put forward in the book are based on a case study of Liverpool in the north west of England and draw from a unique spatial database of over 1700 archive films of the city from 1897 to the present day. Theoretically wide-ranging in scope, Les Roberts’s study combines critical spatial analysis, archival research and qualitative methods to navigate a city’s cinematic geographies as mapped across a broad spectrum of film genres, including amateur film, travelogues, newsreels, promotional films, documentaries and features. As the second most filmed city in the UK – and formerly second city of Empire – Liverpool boasts a rich industrial, architectural and maritime heritage that has positioned the city – which was European Capital of Culture in 2008 – at the forefront of current debates on regeneration, visuality and cultural memory. The tension between the city as spectacle and the city as archive, and the contradictions that underpin the growing ‘cinematization’ of postmodern urban space are at the core of the arguments developed throughout the book. Examining the contention that, as spatial practices, the production and consumption of urban cinematic geographies are, in their different ways, tied to shifting cultures and geographies of mobility, Film, Mobility and Urban Space maps the critical interplay between material and immaterial spaces of the city and re-evaluates the significance – and ‘place’ – of location in contemporary film practice and urban cultural theory.

Vietnam veteran Dominick Candiotti has been long estranged from his family. His late parents were close to the ruling mob clan in Youngstown, his sister was a bad-tempered and dissatisfied nag, and his middle brother was a corruptible police lieutenant. But in 1985, their oldest brother Richard Candiotti---beloved by every Italian Catholic in Youngstown as "Father Candy"---dies, and Dominick returns home for the funeral. Dominick is greatly disturbed by Richard's death, which has been ruled a suicide. Dissatisfied with this answer, he sets out to find the truth, revealing secrets and coming face-to-face with brutality and violence. Award-winning author Les Roberts pens a riveting and moving tale about walking the fragile tightrope between love and hatred.

#14 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ... "A real treat, whether this is the reader's first introduction to the Cleveland PI or one merely catching up with an old friend." -- Mysterious Reviews Going to your high school reunion is never fun. But this time, it's murder. When Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich reluctantly attends the fortieth reunion of his St. Clair High School graduating class, he gets a rude surprise: one of his classmates is found shot dead and another quickly becomes the main suspect. The suspect, successful playwright Tommy Wiggins, draws Milan into the case--and puts him in a very awkward position. Investigating his former schoolmates is an uncomfortable task for Milan, as he soon discovers the dark secrets of people he only thought he knew. The deceased Dr. Phil Kohn, it turns out, was a cad who managed to make more than a few enemies during his abbreviated life. But did a forty-year-old grudge really lead to his death? Or was it something more recent--a jealous spouse, a shady business partner? Milan's hunt for the real killer leads him through the oddly intertwined worlds of Cleveland's medical community, organized crime, polite suburban society, and hard-core drug dealers. It's a tough investigation in which Milan could lose many friends--and, if he's not careful, his life. "Milan is back after a six-year hiatus and just as sharp as ever ... a must-read for any Cleveland mystery lover or displaced Clevelander. If you're new to the series, don't worry; the book stands wel alone even as it reminds fans of previous Milan adventures." -- About.com "A fresh and original mystery, highly recommended to those looking for a classic whodunit with new ideas." -- Small Press Bookwatch "Roberts writes exciting, well-paced mysteries, which is why his fans wanted more, but in this part of the country their appeal has a lot to do with the locale. When murder mysteries are set in places you know, they immediately become more compelling." -- News Journal "An enjoyable whodunit with a deep realistic look at Cleveland now and a nostalgic surreal look at the city in the 1960s though the distorted lens of memories." -- Midwest Book Review

#13 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ... " A] roller coaster ride of a mystery ... plenty of delicious twists and turns without ever compromising credibility." -- Publishers Weekly A slick con man, posing as a recent immigrant from County Mayo all alone in America, is preying on the clannish loyalties of the Irish community in Cleveland. When Common Pleas Judge Maureen Hartigan realizes she's been bamboozled, she and her daughter, Cathleen, hire private eye Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) to chase down the swindler. But the con man turns up dead in a skanky motel room, and Milan finds himself tangled in the world of the local Irish godfather, Con McCardle, who is connected with the IRA. Milan also finds himself once again face-to-face with Cathleen Hartigan, an old flame that never quite kindled. Their own feelings clash with the more urgent need to solve a murder. And he learns a few things about Irish customs and cultures--including "the Irish sports pages." "Entertaining ... an excellent reading experience for mystery fans. Jacovich is tough and intelligent and possesses enough self-awareness to make him very good company indeed. Heartily recommended." -- Booklist

A Milan Jacovich Mystery

A Milan Jacovich Mystery

A Milan Jacovich Mystery