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Milan Jacovich #8
The Cleveland Local
#8 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series … Hotshot young Cleveland lawyer Joel Kerner is shotgunned to death on a lonely beach on the Caribbean island of San Carlos. The local police are inept, and the Cleveland cops can’t operate outside their jurisdiction, so Kerner’s sister Patrice comes to private eye Milan Jacovich (it’s pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich) to discover the truth about her brother’s murder. Milan flies to San Carlos to investigate—a pleasant three-day working vacation that doesn’t keep him from getting stabbed in an alley and rousted by a high-level international cop. Back in Cleveland, he asks his best friend, homicide lieutenant Marko Meglich, for some unofficial help. But he runs up against Kerner’s angry father, a world-famous labor attorney, along with the bevy of beautiful women Joel Kerner left behind and a powerful union leader known around town as “The Irish.” Milan marches forward to solve the case, though it will eventually cause him a tragic and insupportable personal loss.
268 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1997
3 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Les Roberts
74 books138 followersLes 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."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 12, 2017
This is the eighth adventure of Milan Jacovich, former Army MP, cop and now a private-eye in Cleveland, Ohio. He also has a personal life, (divorced and father of two boys), which is balanced fairly well in these books, adding some flavor without intruding on the plots. The series consists of straightforward gum shoe mysteries much like the books of Ross MacDonald, Jonathan Valin, Jeremiah Healy and Stephen Greenleaf, i.e. you ride along shotgun with the protagonist as he goes about solving his case, and these are very good for this genre. That being said The Cleveland Local is weakest book so far in the series.
Situated in his brand new downtown office Milan is hired by a woman, frustrated by the lack of progress in the case of her brother who was violently murdered in the Caribbean while on vacation. Milan makes a trip south to the islands, gets appropriately sunburned and returns to the gray environs of Cleveland with the realization that the solution to the crime resides there. Said victim was not only a successful lawyer in his own right but also was the son of a well known Cleveland labor union lawyer which exposes some sticky connections – and possible motives and suspects - with Dad’s past.
After a lot of sleuthing, a couple of painful eye-openers for the victim’s family, some after hours reminiscing on fatherhood and romance, some close calls for our hero and Milan tapping the shoulder of his organized crime connections, he gets to the bottom of the case with a somewhat unexpected culprit. There’s also a surprising personal twist for Milan at the very end of this book that seemed unnecessary to me but we’ll see how it pans out in the subsequent books in this series.
This isn’t a bad book; it just never gained the momentum the previous books do. I highly recommend the series – reading it in chronological order is a good idea but not necessary – I just wouldn’t suggest starting with The Cleveland Local. You won’t get a full appreciation of how good the other books are.
Situated in his brand new downtown office Milan is hired by a woman, frustrated by the lack of progress in the case of her brother who was violently murdered in the Caribbean while on vacation. Milan makes a trip south to the islands, gets appropriately sunburned and returns to the gray environs of Cleveland with the realization that the solution to the crime resides there. Said victim was not only a successful lawyer in his own right but also was the son of a well known Cleveland labor union lawyer which exposes some sticky connections – and possible motives and suspects - with Dad’s past.
After a lot of sleuthing, a couple of painful eye-openers for the victim’s family, some after hours reminiscing on fatherhood and romance, some close calls for our hero and Milan tapping the shoulder of his organized crime connections, he gets to the bottom of the case with a somewhat unexpected culprit. There’s also a surprising personal twist for Milan at the very end of this book that seemed unnecessary to me but we’ll see how it pans out in the subsequent books in this series.
This isn’t a bad book; it just never gained the momentum the previous books do. I highly recommend the series – reading it in chronological order is a good idea but not necessary – I just wouldn’t suggest starting with The Cleveland Local. You won’t get a full appreciation of how good the other books are.
February 27, 2017
I can count the number of books that have made me cry on one hand.. actually, 3 fingers. The Cleveland Local just evened that up. Without giving anything away, let it be said that Roberts has sure delivered a one-two punch with this one, even more so then he normally does. Milan is hired to find the killer of a local lawyer's brother and brings in his normal bevy of intrigue and characters to solve the case. Taking on a few more battle scars of his own solving the case, he is left with one that won't heal anytime soon. His business gets torched, he comes back from a tropical stay with a hideous souvenir and needs a new wardrobe. But maybe, this time, he gets the girl.
Still, I've become too fond of his characters to just close the book without pain. He just writes them too damn real to ignore.
Still, I've become too fond of his characters to just close the book without pain. He just writes them too damn real to ignore.
March 14, 2020
Well, part of why I read this series is that it's set in Cleveland, OH and I like learning things about Cleveland and its history. So having part of this story take place outside of Ohio was a bit of a let down.
Did a major character just get taken out of the rest of the series? (and I can't request the next one right away due to local libraries closing down due to the COVID19 issue so I can't see what happens next!)
For whatever reason, this book didn't seem to engage my interest the way others in the series have. I'm not sure if it was because it took Milan so long to put the "jigsaw puzzle" of the case together or if it was just the thought of it having the non-Ohio connection or if it was something else together.
I liked that the story included the fact that there's a dentist in Parma with a similar name to Milan's and that this Milan (the PI) sometimes got calls for the dentist (and wondered if the dentist sometimes got calls for PI work). I've heard Les Roberts speak on how he came up with the character's name--he wanted an ethnic name and spoke with the dentist's sister on a flight and heard the dentist's name. The spelling is a bit different. And I temped for the dentist once years ago, and yes, he did get some people asking why his name was in the media connected with a murder investigation, and yes, he did have to explain that the media was discussing Les Roberts's new book.
Did a major character just get taken out of the rest of the series? (and I can't request the next one right away due to local libraries closing down due to the COVID19 issue so I can't see what happens next!)
For whatever reason, this book didn't seem to engage my interest the way others in the series have. I'm not sure if it was because it took Milan so long to put the "jigsaw puzzle" of the case together or if it was just the thought of it having the non-Ohio connection or if it was something else together.
I liked that the story included the fact that there's a dentist in Parma with a similar name to Milan's and that this Milan (the PI) sometimes got calls for the dentist (and wondered if the dentist sometimes got calls for PI work). I've heard Les Roberts speak on how he came up with the character's name--he wanted an ethnic name and spoke with the dentist's sister on a flight and heard the dentist's name. The spelling is a bit different. And I temped for the dentist once years ago, and yes, he did get some people asking why his name was in the media connected with a murder investigation, and yes, he did have to explain that the media was discussing Les Roberts's new book.
October 5, 2012
Les is awesome. The ending of this one really stands out.
January 25, 2022
I loved reading about the 90's in Cleveland...the Jake, the prior restaurants and bars around town. It's a great mystery! I'm planning on reading more of his books in the near future.
October 2, 2022
As also noted for the book Collision Bend, that's five stars for an easy read pulp mystery. Don't be expecting a Nobel Prize work here. Pure fun. And you'll have more fun if you have roots in Cleveland that go back to the 1970's and '80's. Mad Greek for dinner anyone?
One of the better books for the series. Milan Jacovich keeps running into dead-ends on a murder case which happened on a tropical island. The report was robbery gone wrong; Milan thinks otherwise. The victim's father wants Milan to drop the case, claiming the family needs peace. Milan knows his instincts of foul play are onto something sinister when his own office gets firebombed. The ending will be far worse than Milan could have imagined.
One of the better books for the series. Milan Jacovich keeps running into dead-ends on a murder case which happened on a tropical island. The report was robbery gone wrong; Milan thinks otherwise. The victim's father wants Milan to drop the case, claiming the family needs peace. Milan knows his instincts of foul play are onto something sinister when his own office gets firebombed. The ending will be far worse than Milan could have imagined.
March 14, 2024
My least favorite of the series. Les, you've disappointed me with this one. Choppy plot, a good chunk of the action not set in Cleveland, following a crime Milan will never get satisfaction on, and then results in another senseless act that changes the whole trajectory of the series? Not cool, just not cool.
This Cleveland girl is disappointed.
This Cleveland girl is disappointed.
June 17, 2020
One of the best in this series that absolutely should be read in order; this entry will not have the same impact if you haven't read the background and developed a relationship with the characters. Good solid mystery and dramatic action.
March 11, 2021
Well, it started out as cliched hardboiled as you can get, but amusing because it's Cleveland. One thing that really bothered me was that a Pepsi (or whatever) was called "a soda." Really? Have things changed that much? Still, not bad.
September 22, 2018
Re-read this one. This book pulled me in (again) and still packed a punch at the end. Well done!
January 11, 2019
Really hated the ending.
January 24, 2021
A brutal murder of the son of a prominent labor attorney takes Milan Jacovich to outside the country and through twists and turns he's never encountered before. Your heart will be torn out...
Read
June 23, 2025Another good read by this author. Love the local setting, but the ending was too sad.
October 5, 2025
Enjoyable read, keeping you wondering and edgy ...
Well done! Excellent read!
Well done! Excellent read!
June 5, 2018
With “Local” being our eighth is this fairly routine series about Cleveland-based private eye Milan Jacovich, we pretty much know what to expect in these relatively straightforward mysteries set in the 80’s and 90’s. But it cannot be said that author Roberts doesn’t have a way with words – describing the woman who answered the door as: “She had startling white hair pulled back into a chignon, piercing dark chocolate eyes under heavy brows, and a chin like the bucket of an earth-mover.” Tell me you can’t picture that!
Milan is a divorced middle-aged man with two sons still in high school; an infrequent dater of women; and a relentless hound dog with any crime case at hand. He has recently moved to an actual office and is starting to keep up with the times, as he now uses a personal computer, and will probably break down and acquire a cellphone pretty soon.
The case in this plot is somewhat different in that a Cleveland lawyer vacations in a Caribbean island where he is murdered, with little recourse from the authorities there, and no jurisdiction with the Cleveland cops. The man’s sister hires Milan to find the perp, which takes virtually all book-long to achieve, with Milan getting roughed up a couple of times along the way. That he agrees to meet the guy late at night seems dubious, and the book ends with a startling, almost tear-jerking surprise. What happens next will for sure be of great interest.
We’re glad we stuck with this series of sleuth mysteries – while they seemed pretty routine and maybe a little dated at first, they are growing on us as the set matures, which is saying something as many authors’ story sets follow the reverse pattern! {3.5}
Milan is a divorced middle-aged man with two sons still in high school; an infrequent dater of women; and a relentless hound dog with any crime case at hand. He has recently moved to an actual office and is starting to keep up with the times, as he now uses a personal computer, and will probably break down and acquire a cellphone pretty soon.
The case in this plot is somewhat different in that a Cleveland lawyer vacations in a Caribbean island where he is murdered, with little recourse from the authorities there, and no jurisdiction with the Cleveland cops. The man’s sister hires Milan to find the perp, which takes virtually all book-long to achieve, with Milan getting roughed up a couple of times along the way. That he agrees to meet the guy late at night seems dubious, and the book ends with a startling, almost tear-jerking surprise. What happens next will for sure be of great interest.
We’re glad we stuck with this series of sleuth mysteries – while they seemed pretty routine and maybe a little dated at first, they are growing on us as the set matures, which is saying something as many authors’ story sets follow the reverse pattern! {3.5}
February 28, 2017
I can count the number of books that have made me cry on one hand.. actually, 3 fingers. The Cleveland Local just evened that up. Without giving anything away, let it be said that Roberts has sure delivered a one-two punch with this one, even more so then he normally does. Milan is hired to find the killer of a local lawyer's brother and brings in his normal bevy of intrigue and characters to solve the case. Taking on a few more battle scars of his own solving the case, he is left with one that won't heal anytime soon. His business gets torched, he comes back from a tropical stay with a hideous souvenir and needs a new wardrobe. But maybe, this time, he gets the girl.
Still, I've become too fond of his characters to just close the book without pain. He just writes them too damn real to ignore.
Still, I've become too fond of his characters to just close the book without pain. He just writes them too damn real to ignore.
August 31, 2008
I stumbled across this book in my local library loading up on books for the long weekend. I recently had a long weekend in Cleveland and really liked the area. I thought it would be great fun to read about the place I had just visited. I'd never heard of the series and this was the oldest one the library had. I like to start at the beginning with a series but sometimes you have to take what you can get. This is a fun read. The pace is quick, the description of Cleveland is right on the money. The only thing I didn't like was the very end. Maybe if I had read more of the series it wouldn't have been such a shock. I have two more in the series and I hope I can get the earlier ones at some point. A very entertaining story, a sort of throw back to the "hard boiled" detective stories that once ruled the paperback world. I'm very glad I found Les Roberts.
May 1, 2014
I love this old school mystery series set in Cleveland and this was one of my favorites. Milan is a 43-year-old divorced dad who often finds trouble when his private investigator gig lands him in hot water. This time that hot water will take him to the resort at San Carlos in the Caribbean. The murder trail is cold and the Cleveland man was far from home so Milan rattles a few cages and almost gets himself killed.
I liked the relationship aspect of this one. Milan is developing a great relationship with his oldest son and his long-time friendship with Marko, of the police department, is full of affection. The two bachelors even consider trying to find a special someone again.
Any fan of hard broiled, private investigator mysteries will like this great, well-written series. For me, Cleveland was the draw, but it’s the characters that keep me reading.
I liked the relationship aspect of this one. Milan is developing a great relationship with his oldest son and his long-time friendship with Marko, of the police department, is full of affection. The two bachelors even consider trying to find a special someone again.
Any fan of hard broiled, private investigator mysteries will like this great, well-written series. For me, Cleveland was the draw, but it’s the characters that keep me reading.
May 7, 2014
So many woooooooooords!! The book overall worked in the classic detective novel kind of way. But it didn't get really good until about 3/4 of the way in. If the book had started out with that kind of action it would have pulled me in right away. Parts of it really should have been called "The complete inner dialogue of Milan J." Every detail was written down about what he did that day, what he had for breakfast, what intersection a restaurant was on, whether he brushed his teeth or not.... Sheesh. A lot of the book was unnecessary, honestly. I have an autographed copy so I really wanted to love it. The mystery does suck you in right away and you have to know what happened, but there was just way too much detail.
March 19, 2012
A very entertaining and action filled mystery set largely in Cleveland, Ohio, a city I am familiar with, as it is close to my hometown. It was interesting to see how Les Roberts works in a lot of local flavor into the story, so you learn a lot about Cleveland as well as enjoying a great mystery. My only criticism of Les Roberts is that he includes a heavy dose of adult language and adult situations, which I feel don't add anything to the story. Otherwise it's great!
August 6, 2018
No concussions, but there was a close call, Milan went to the doctors though and the Doc pronounced no wobbly heads. Our guy did receive a nasty cut to his arm that needed stitches while chasing a lead in a fictional island in the Caribbean. This case see Milan tangling with local unions, a staple of what makes Cleveland, Cleveland. Just ask Danny Green, oh wait you can't, and I mentioned the cut on Milan's arm, that's nothing compared to the cut in his heart at books end.
February 6, 2017
I read this in 2001, and I didn't write good notes or a rating, so I really can't remember enough for a decent review. But I do recall that I liked the character of Milan, and I read at least one more book in the series, so this may deserve a 4* rating. If there was a Milan Jacovich novel on my shelf right now, I would pick it up today.
March 18, 2008
A good mystery. The best part about Les Roberts' books is his attention to detail about the Cleveland area. Cleveland residents would appreciate his writing!
October 14, 2008
Ok mystery novel. Not my style.
December 31, 2008
The first one that I read... started something! Now I need top read the rest :)
January 18, 2010
Enjoyable. A fast read. I wonder when I read this book, however, if there really are still pockets where THIRD generation Americans still live the same way as their ancestors.
July 18, 2011
Mikal is a very real and likeable character. I enjoyed reading about his adventures in solving the case and the descriptions of Cleveland.
September 2, 2016
Good book. I understand why it had to end that way. Entices the reader to continue the series. This should toughen Milan up and make him into more of a bad ass.
April 1, 2016
One of the better Jacovich stories. Kept me turning the pages and wondering what would happen next. Also one of the most moving and powerful of this series. A really interesting ending.
February 6, 2016
Very good read with details about the City of Cleveland. Milan Janovich is a good example of a Cleveland Slovenian with roots in the steel mills.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews