The Cleveland Connection - Softcover

Roberts, Les

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312962185 ISBN 13: 9780312962180

Publisher: St Martin's Press, 1997

Synopsis

Presents the true account of Martha Brailsford, a talented young artist, and her violent struggle with a sadistic, sociopathic, neighborhood killer, which ended in death on a dark and lonely Salem night. Originally published as Counterpoint. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Roberts' most ambitious work thus far . . . A potent plot . . . a brave, satisfying story. -- Book Reviewer "Publishers Weekly"

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. -- Book Reviewer "Washington Post"

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. (Starred review) -- Book Reviewer "Booklist"

In Milan Jacovich, Les Roberts has created an ingratiating hero and furnished him with an intriguing case to solve, together with a timely take on what has, for centuries, made the Balkans such a dark and bloody ground. -- Book Reviewer "San Diego Union Tribune"

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

From the Back Cover

Clevland, Ohio is a city of many faces. Home of one of the country's great symphony orchestras, it is home as well of "the only river in the world that's a fire hazard". It is also the home of a large population of immigrants from Central Europe, elderly now, who have brought with them and kept alive in their children, antagonisms that mirror the tragic conflicts even now tearing their former nations apart. Milan Jacovich, Roberts's likable and very human private eye, is American by birth, Slovene by heritage, and savvy enough to shy away from involvement in the enmity between Serbs and Croats. Until an appealing young woman convinces him to help in the search for her missing Serbian grandfather. Conscientiously, Milan follows the sparse clues in Bogdan Zdale's disappearance: He seeks out the formidable elder who rules Cleveland's Serbian community. He braves belligerant Croats. He investigates a possible connection with the sudden appearance in town of a mob hit man. As he digs deeper, he discovers there is more to the case than the wayward wandering of a forgetful old man. Zdale had a secret - one that goes back half a century with roots in World War II. Stirring up old hatreds results in an explosive - and surprising denoument, a dramatic ending to a story that rings as true as this morning's newspaper.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312962185
• ISBN 13: 9780312962180
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 336