Mystery writer reveals Cleveland’s hidden lures
By Charles Cassady
happenings
Published June 14, 2006

Down these mean streets a man must go. Mean streets, with names like Bagley. Cranage. Mapleway. Railroad Street. And the dread Fitch County Maintenance Yard.

Yes, Olmsted Falls. A tough, seamy town. Just waiting for a hardboiled private investigator from the big city to sort things out. The Northrop Bookstore, at 8080 Columbia Road, is just the sort of joint he’d stake out, looking for the “mystery” section.

It’s at the Northrop that Cleveland Heights author Les Roberts, renown for his Cleveland-based Slovenian PI Milan Jacovich, will be visiting on Saturday afternoon, from 2 to 3 p.m. The appearance commemorates the publication of his new book “We’ll Always Have Cleveland.”

June 17 happens to be a key date in Milan Jacovich history, as last year it was officially declared “Milan Jacovich Day” up at Cleveland City Hall. Roberts said his being out and about on June 17, 2006, is just a coincidence. “While it would be lovely if they set aside one day every year, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

In fact, the new hardcover from the award-winning novelist, TV producer, actor and scriptwriter is nonfiction. “We’ll Always Have Cleveland,” describes how the Chicago-born Roberts, after more than 30 years active in the Los Angeles movie and television industry, first came to Cleveland in 1986 for a consult on an Ohio Lottery game show (Roberts came well-prepared; he produced the classic “Hollywood Squares”).

Something in the recession-hit, oft-punch lined Cleveland resonated with Roberts, and eventually he defied traditional migratory patterns to relocate permanently from Los Angeles to northeast Ohio. The area ignited his literary imagination as well.

As an author, Roberts, whose literary heroes are John Steinbeck and Raymond Chandler (“I was and remain impressed with the way he and Steinbeck used just the right words for maximum power and effect”) had already created an actor-detective named Saxon. Those escapades, naturally, took place on the West Coast.

But starting with “Pepper Pike” in 1988, Les Roberts began to put North Coast neighborhoods and hangouts on the map of crime literature, with his Milan Jacovich series of novels.

Roberts’ new book describes how he invented Jacovich, a proudly-ethnic, divorced, ex-Cleveland cop turned private dick.

“Although I’ve been asked hundreds of times — literally — whether Milan Jacovich is really ME (of course he isn’t), no one has ever asked if the plots I come up with and the various incidents that occur in my books are actually based on my own real-life experiences.” 

Indeed, once after Roberts did a Cleveland radio interview, a distraught mother phoned to hire him to search for her missing son. “It took me a long time on the phone to convince her I was NOT a private eye, or any other kind of eye.”

Said Roberts, “Although I’ve never been involved with a murder, some incidents, involving either Milan or one of the other characters, are indeed based on my own life, current or past, or the lives of people I know personally. Which ones are fictional and which are based on real life?  You’ll never know.”

Well, you might know a few, if you peruse “We’ll Always Have Cleveland.” Roberts names a local anchorwoman (fortunately graced with a sense of humor) and a famously curmudgeonly newspaper columnist/TV reporter who have inspired some Jacovich associates.

The book also salutes independent booksellers like the Northrop, where Roberts will sign copies of “We’ll Always Have Cleveland” and his other volumes. He also enjoys meeting the public. “People have given me excellent ideas during the run of the Milan series. I can think of four right off the top of my head - `The Lake Effect,’ `Collision Bend,’ `The Duke of Cleveland’ and `The Cleveland Local.’ But three of the four ideas came from good friends.”

Roberts adds, “I’m certainly open to listening to any idea, but I don’t pay for them.” In fact, he has a bulging notebook full of his own plot concepts, not just for Milan Jacovich but a novel-in-progress of international intrigue stretching from Cleveland to Iraq, entitled “Wet Work.” On the back burner is a historical thriller set in post-WWII Europe.

This extra-canonical activity caused speculation that the 13th Milan Jacovich novel, “The Irish Sports Pages,” in 2002, was probably going to be the last. But that turns out not to be the case. “After more than a thousand people have asked me, in person, on the phone or in e-mails, WHEN the next Milan will be out, I’ve finally decided to write one.

“It’s in the works now and I’m hoping I’ll be finished with it sometime this fall, again for publication next year. And by the way - I’m setting part of it in Olmsted Falls.

“I’m actually glad I took a few years off writing a Milan Jacovich book because I’ve decided to let him age — and for him to deal with the amazing things that happen to this country, and the world, every single day.”

For latest Les Roberts updates, future appearances and links to his Internet radio show (in which he reviews movies with friend Ann Elder), go to www.lesroberts.com.