The Cleveland Connection: A Milan Jacovich Mystery

By Les Roberts

Book Overview

#4 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series ...

"Roberts is one of the best crime writers around, and The Cleveland Connection is his best effort yet. The plot has all the right ingredients--danger, suspense, intrigue, action--in all the right amounts; Milan Jacovich is the kind of guy we want on our side when the chips are down . . . Don't miss this one." -- Booklist

Private investigator Milan Jacovich (it's pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich) is Slovenian-American, but he's familiar with the varied ethnic groups that make up the city of Cleveland. An elderly Serbian man has gone missing, and when his granddaughter suspects foul play, Milan agrees to take up the search.

In the meantime, Milan's good friend, Plain Dealer reporter Ed Stahl, has written a column critical of the gangster element on Cleveland's Murray Hill, and is now being threatened and harassed, which brings Milan into direct conflict with a millionaire garbage hauler and an out-of-town muscle punk named Nello Trinetti.

The Serbs and the Slovenians traditionally don't get along too well, but Milan makes inroads into Cleveland's Serbian community after a shocking murder, eventually coming face-to-face with its unofficial mayor, Lazo Samarzic, an angry and militant man who runs a produce stand in the historic old West Side Market.

Hatreds that have simmered for fifty years eventually explode as Milan Jacovich takes on one of his most challenging cases.

"Very good and very tough . . . Les Roberts has written an extremely good novel that is well worth reading by all, not just mystery lovers." -- Armchair Detective

"There's an affection for Cleveland and an insistence on its ethnic, working-class life that gives vividness to the detection. Roberts writes with sharp wit, creates action scenes that are drawn with flair, and puts emotional life into a range of people." -- Washington Post

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1598510045
• ISBN13: 9781598510041
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Gray & Company Publishers
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Reflects the Confusion that is Cleveland

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....

The Cleveland Connection

Les Roberts hasn't disappointed me yet. This outing for Mylan Jackovich was as well written and plotted as all the previous tomes. How Roberts can continue to come up with something interesting to say about Cleveland, in winter, is the real mystery, and yet he does. Great read.

Connection times two or three

I really enjoyed the Cleveland Connection. Roberts knows the city, the area, and the people well. Born and raised in NE Ohio, I really appreciated his descriptions and how true to life the characters are. My heritage is close to that of Milan and I understood the thinking of those from the old country and how they adapted to their new home. As another reviewer stated - old hates and secrets take a long time to heal - often generations.The book is fast paced and the mystery carefully plotted. I think most mystery fans would enjoy this one - from NE Ohio or not.

Glad I discovered Milo Jacovich -....

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!

A timely mystery that captures the essence of Cleveland.

Les Roberts books about the adventures of PI Milan Jocovich are like a window to an old familiar place for me. I was raised in Shaker Heights, part Milan's city (Cleveland). I haven't been back in twenty years and I am pleased to still be able to reconize almost all his localities. I especially enjoyed the chase scene that took him around Cain Park to Taylor Rd., where I used to sled ride. His trips to restaurants on Kelly Hill, Little Italy, were so familiar. I wonder if a beer joint named "The Library", is still there?The Mystery of who killed the Serbian immigrant is all too timely. Age old hatreds don't die, even in a free country.I really enjoyed this book as well as all of Mr. Robert's Milan Mysteries.