The Irish Sports Pages

Milan Jacovich #13

by Les Roberts

#13 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series … “[A] roller coaster ride of a mystery … plenty of delicious twists and turns without ever compromising credibility.” — Publishers Weekly A slick con man, posing as a recent immigrant from County Mayo all alone in America, is preying on the clannish loyalties of the Irish community in Cleveland. When Common Pleas Judge Maureen Hartigan realizes she’s been bamboozled, she and her daughter, Cathleen, hire private eye Milan Jacovich (pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovitch) to chase down the swindler. But the con man turns up dead in a skanky motel room, and Milan finds himself tangled in the world of the local Irish godfather, Con McCardle, who is connected with the IRA. Milan also finds himself once again face-to-face with Cathleen Hartigan, an old flame that never quite kindled. Their own feelings clash with the more urgent need to solve a murder. And he learns a few things about Irish customs and cultures—including “the Irish sports pages.” “Entertaining … an excellent reading experience for mystery fans. Jacovich is tough and intelligent and possesses enough self-awareness to make him very good company indeed. Heartily recommended.” — Booklist

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

271 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2002

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."

Reviews

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly straightforward PI novel and what I’d call an okay read. The writing is proficient without being sparkling, the dialogue is functional, the characters are taken straight out of the crime writers' generic and clichéd character box, and the story relatively formulaic. It whiled away a few hours pleasantly enough. I guess my big problem was the initial premise. I just couldn’t buy into the idea that a savvy, sassy judge would let somebody she didn’t know stay in her home for a few days, especially one as inept as Brian McFall with a story that didn't stack up (there's no way you can get into the US without documentation and judge would know this). There were also some issues about repetition, which seemed more about poor editing than anything else. The Irish sports pages, by the way, are the obituary columns - the first pages any respecting Irish man reads to find out who in the community has passed away.

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Working my way through the currently-nineteen-book Milan Jacovich series by Les Roberts, whom I have had the pleasure of hearing speak at a writers' group in the past.

Warning: Spoilers May Follow. Read at Your Own Discretion.

*****

I can understand a man who's been drinking might fall for a story such as the one Paduska told in his Irish-alter-ego. I can even understand Torrence falling for the story. But I'm not quite sure I buy the story that the drunken encounter eventually led to Paduska staying at an aunt's house--an aunt who is a judge--unless she's a drinker too as Milan suspected. Even with that, I don't understand how a savvy lawyer like Cathleen would fall for him, but believe he wanted to spend nights at her mother's house instead of staying with her.

So I had to suspend a bit of disbelief to read through this entry into the Milan Jacovich series. The story itself is okay. I enjoyed reading about the Northeast Ohio area. I'm not familiar enough with the history of Cleveland to know if there really was both an Irish mob-like influence such as what is suggested in this plot. It's hard for me to imagine the Irish and Italian families sharing turf, but . . . it may have happened.

Family seems to be the underlying theme to the story--and what one does for family. Hartigan wants to protect her husband's and her daughter's reputations as well as her own. Marks wants to protect his son. McCardle wants to protect his niece. D'Alessandro regards both Victor and Milan as sons of a sort.

Milan seems to have burned the bridge with Cathleen--but we will see if she shows up in future books in the series either as a romantic interest or in another way. Milan also seems to have burned bridges with Victor and D'Alessandro but, hopefully, that will resolve itself in some way and we will see them as characters in future novels in the series.

I am to the point where I hope Roberts ends the series with Milan finding a woman who he might have a future with--or at least someone to make his non-work life less lonely.

The version I read includes a 1 page letter from Roberts at the end. The letter introduces the next book in the series. I was surprised to read that Roberts had planned to end the series with this book--but Milan had other ideas, I guess since the next story in the series jumped into Roberts's mind.

[Jerry B · Rating 3 out of 5]

We’re gradually polishing off Roberts’ 19-book series (with apparently no plans for more) about Cleveland-based tough-guy Milan Jacovich, a PI of Slovenian descent. Most of the books feature our likable leading man persistently chasing slim clues about one type of case or another, usually with little violence except threats to our hero – and thus a little low on the thrills and chills thermometer.

“Irish” seems rather typical of that finding, as Milan is hired to find some photos for a sitting Judge without even a hint as to what they depict. They were stolen by a con man along with some jewelry and cash, not to mention a blur on the daughter’s sexual conduct. While the scammer is soon identified, and apparently a long-time practitioner of dual lives, even after his murder early-on two-thirds of the novel go pretty slow. The last several chapters speed along to a full and clever resolution of things, but by then we were almost as weary as Jacovich himself.

We really like the protagonist and his moral outlook on life; his teenaged sons (not mentioned herein) and often ill-fated attempts at relationships with females tend to amuse, but this one was unfortunately a rather forgettable entry in the set. {2.5}

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: PI Milan Jacovich
SETTING: Cleveland
SERIES: #13
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Judge Maureen Cortigan has hired PI Milan Jacovich because her entire family has been embarrassingly victimized by a con man named “Brian McFall”. Posing as and Irishman, McFall suckered the judge’s nephew, Hugh, into letting him stay at his place and then moving into the judge’s home. He also started a romantic relationship with the judge’s daughter, Cathleen. Ostensibly, the judge wants Milan to find McFall, who stole some of the judge’s belongings when he left her home. McFall is found murdered; it turns out he used various aliases during his cons. His “real” job was doing low level work for the Irish mob. Much to his dislike, Milan finds he needs to use his connections with the Italian mob to help in his quest. A solid PI story, enriched by some excellent characterization.

[Cyber Dot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not 5-star Nobel Prize ... The Milan Jacovich mystery series has become my go-to pleasure read. It is generally a direct line narrative, with any flashbacks being brief and apparent. Milan becomes more engaging and appealing with each book. The Cleveland details are delightful for me, having spent most of my life in NE Ohio.

This story is about Irish bars and the Catholic Church, a con-artist and IRA fund raising. As always, there is a dead body and lots of false leads on the way to solving the crime. Milan continues to be a stubborn straight edge, yet he is trading favors with powerful crooks.

[Dkolacinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the finest Miolan Jacovich story, tightly written and narrated, with background information simply and concisely integrated into story and very character-driven. Milan is hired to recover some items stolen by a con man from a prominent judge, including a manila folder of old photographs. Oh, and by the way, the con man has an intimate relationship with the judge's daughter, who happens to be someone who could have been in a relationship many times over the previous past seven years. And off we go!

[Casey Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

another good Milan mystery. not sure anyone could actually be that calm knowing they were going to die soon. was cool to see my home town, niles, mentioned in a novel. there was never much mention of the mob in Warren growing up. but it was prevalent in niles and youngstown.

[Gwenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading books set in Cleveland.

[David Riester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleveland, Ohio. Milam Jacovich, private eye.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milan is an interesting character, and this mystery (including a little bit of murder) was a good read.
I will be checking out some more Les Roberts!

[April Helms · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read most of the Milan Jakovich novels by now, and this is the (so far) last one written in the series. It's definately the most "gray area." Milan, private detective, is asked by a high-profile Common Pleas judge to find a small-time con man and retreive various articles stolen from her -- including an envelope filled with pictures. But when the con man turns up dead, Milan gets pulled in deeper than he would like in an ethical quagmire, and he has to decide how far he is willing to go to get that envelope. This is probably the most interesting book, as we see Milan shedding some of his morals, for better and worse. Definately spooky -- and realistic -- how much he has changed over the course of the series. There were some annoying editing problems ( I don't think we needed to read how the local Don thought that Milan "hung the moon" twice, for example), and I'm not crazy about the resolution of the envelope situation -- I thought that was glossed over rather quickly. I guessed pretty quickly whodunit (at least the murderer, there were a lot of hints), although I really liked how Milan eventually figured it out.

[Chad Malkamaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one where Milan escapes without a blow to the head. This was originally planned to be the last Jacovich book, but because of reader request, Roberts continued the series. This one sees the Cleveland gumshoe muck into the depths of the Westside Irish community. An old acquaintance of Victor's calls Milan to help her mother, who is a Cleveland judge, recover stolen photographs. Typical of Milan book, the usual twists and turns, and the occasional night on the town in real spots throughout the Greater Cleveland area.

[Chowhound88 (a.k.a. Ralph) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to live in Cleveland and I like seeing the names of streets and places that I have some familiarity with. I really loved reading this book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot twist. I love the way Mr. Roberts wraps up the ending. I will definitely read more books my him. I just wished they were easier to find here.

[Agatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one in a series featuring Cleveland private investigator Milan Jacovich; I especially enjoy this series because it is set in my hometown; this entry focused on the Irish mob in Cleveland and vicinity

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to learn what the "Irish Sports Pages" reference means. Wanted to read some fiction based in Cleveland and discovered this well written and nicely plotted long-running series. I am definitely interested in reading the earlier titles; an older series so
looks like ILL for most of those!