Les Roberts

#7 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series . . . Private investigator Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich) goes behind the scenes to uncover scandal, ambition, and intrigue at one of Cleveland's top TV stations as he hunts down the stalker and murderer of a beautiful local television anchor. Milan has just moved his offices to an old building on the banks of the Cuyahoga River in an area called the Flats. There, he receives a surprise visit from a former love interest, Mary Soderberg, who left him for her influential boss, TV executive Steve Cirini. One of their newscasters, the beautiful Virginia Carville, has been murdered, and Cirini, who was having an affair with her, is the chief suspect. Mary wants Milan to bail her cheating boyfriend out of the jam--for old times' sake. Milan doesn't like Cirini at all, but takes the case even though he's unsure of the man's innocence. Or is the culprit the obsessive station-manager Nicky Scandalios, the longtime anchorwoman Vivian Truscott, or a survivor of child abuse named Violet Grba? For that matter, could it be Milan's old flame Mary Soderberg herself? "Another fine entry in an outstanding series, Robert's latest is sure to be a hit with readers and reviewers alike." -- Booklist "Former television producer Roberts writes knowingly of the medium; newscaster sleeping with sales manager makes a timely metaphor for the ethics of broadcast journalism. Roberts affectionately weaves in the history and rich ethnic mix of Milan Jacovich's Cleveland turf." -- Publishers Weekly

#2 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ... Polyester leisure suit, white patent leather shoes, matching white belt--that 1970s fashion statement was once unkindly dubbed the "full Cleveland." And no one wears it with more flair and panache than Buddy Bustamente. Buddy ("he was medium-sized if you happened to be talking about Cape buffaloes") is the hulking flunky assigned by mob kingpin Victor Gaimari to shadow Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich (it's pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich). Milan has been hired to find the perpetrator of a low-level scam who is selling local businessmen ads in a magazine that doesn't exist. But the modest amount of money involved hardly seems worth the string of bodies he soon turns up. And why does it interest a mobster like Victor and his sugar-addict bird dog, Buddy? Milan starts liking Buddy in spite of himself. But he's not easily fooled; Buddy is a recent ex-con, and Milan knows that behind the childlike fa ade and dubious fashion, he is potentially lethal.

#1 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ... "A clever plot, a vibrant Cleveland and rural Ohio setting, and a realistically drawn hero make this series one to watch. It exudes much the same sort of charm as the early Spenser novels did." -- Booklist Introducing Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich), Cleveland's favorite private eye. Milan, an ex-cop, Vietnam veteran, and former football player, is a private investigator with a master's degree, a taste for klobasa sandwiches and Stroh's beer, and a knack for finding trouble. Milan gets a cryptic late-night phone call from high-powered advertising executive Richard Amber, who wants to pay him a thousand dollars for twelve hours of bodyguard service. But when Milan gets to the Amber house in the elegant suburb of Pepper Pike, no one is home. The next morning, Amber's beautiful but brittle wife hires Milan to find her husband, who, it seems, has disappeared. The search will lead Milan through the haunts of the very rich, including an exclusive country club where the Slovenian American sleuth almost loses his life, and onto some of Cleveland's meanest streets. He'll meet Cleveland mob kingpin Don Giancarlo D'Allessandro and his sophisticated but deadly nephew Victor Gaimari, and even cross paths with the governor of Ohio. "Roberts handles the private-eye format with aplomb and takes full advantage of his Cleveland scene . . . Best of all is his Slovenian sleuth, vulnerable and fallible, whom we are likely (and would like) to see more of." -- San Diego Union Tribune