The Cleveland Connection: A Milan Jacovich Mystery [Hardcover]

Les Roberts (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific Roberts's fourth mystery (after Deep Shaker ) starring Cleveland-based Slovene ex-cop Milan Jacovich is his most ambitious work thus far. Here, global politics and wartime atrocities figure in the death of an old Serb, Bogdan Zdrale. Hired by Zdrale's good-looking, worried granddaughter, Milan combs Cleveland's ethnic enclaves for the missing retired factory worker with a fondness for taverns, coffee and conversation. Soon Zdrale's body turns up in a remote spot, but the execution-style killing and the appearance of a hired gun from New York prompts Milan to dig deeper. Longer than most of Roberts's books, this novel also incorporates more extensive subplots, including the print war waged by Milan's reporter buddy on local crime lords and the PI's unhurried coming-to-terms with fatherhood, divorce and loneliness. The central narrative, stretching back to WW II concentration camps, is grounded in a potent plot, as Roberts skillfully juggles readers' expectations. On the debit side is his overpromotion of Cleveland and his introduction of incest, current crime fiction's most overused plot device. While Roberts' best work may remain his debut, An Infinite Number of Monkeys, this latest is a brave, satisfying story.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312087462
• ISBN-13: 978-0312087463
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Les Roberts is the author of 15 mystery novels featuring Cleveland detective Milan Jacovich, as well as 9 other books of fiction. The past president of both the Private Eye Writers of America and the American Crime Writer's League, he came to mystery writing after a 24-year career in Hollywood. He was the first producer and head writer of the Hollywood Squares and wrote for the Andy Griffith Show, the Jackie Gleason Show, and the Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others. He has been a professional actor, a singer, a jazz musician, and a teacher. In 2003 he received the Sherwood Anderson Literary Award. A native of Chicago, he now lives in Northeast Ohio and is a film and literary critic.

Visit his web site at www.lesroberts.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Reflects the Confusion that is Cleveland, August 26, 2009

By 

Reckless Reader "Just Read" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cleveland Connection: A Milan Jacovich Mystery (Hardcover)

A lot of people used to live in Cleveland. I'm one of them. I go back sometimes. The city I grew up in is gone. But there is still something there. And Les Roberts seems to capture it --- the place is pretty simple, pretty prosaic, pretty worn out and frayed at the edges, but still a decent place full of decent people, some of whom don't get along too well. His man, Milan, the p.i., feels like Cleveland --- divorced, often loveless, beaten down a bit, not making it very well a lot of days, but hanging in there because that's all there is to do. And occasionally doing something more than hanging in there --- like solving a kind of obvious murder a bit slower than the reader will. That's Cleveland, a bit slow, a bit of a laggard, but well-meaning. The place won't excite you, the people won't excite you, but they're not bad folk to hang out with of an evening, when you have nothing more gripping --- kind of like Cleveland on a Wednesday night, not a place you'd want to be if you could be in NYC, LA, SF, DC, etc...but tolerable if that's where you happen to be....like this book....

4.0 out of 5 stars Glad I discovered Milo Jacovich -...., January 2, 2001

By 

John M. Bruchas "Mike B in Chicago-land" (Chicago suburbs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cleveland Connection: A Milan Jacovich Mystery (Hardcover)

This is a good crime novel set in Cleveland, OH - probably late '90's. Have several Cleveland co-workers here that say Roberts knows his town. In fact am handing off a copy to a friend from there who is of Slovenian/German Ohio ancestry. Normally I am a Paretsky/Chicago crime authors buff.

Milio is Slovenian/American - the characters in the book are Serbian/American so it references the news of today on some of the background material with a part of the plot tied to WWII actions in the then Yugoslavia.

It moves well, Milo Jacovich is not a superhero of a detective but has all the buddies and side characters that any good mystery should have - to help flesh out the plot. Cleveland sounds like New York City on a smaller scale but with similar ethnic turf in the neighborhoods woven into the plot.

I read it in 1 night - albeit a long one - but it kept my interest up and I will buy more "Milo" books. This would adapt well to a TV movie, too, I think.

Buy it!