King of the Holly Hop
Les Roberts
Gray & Company, Publishers

It’s such a great feeling to encounter a friend of long-standing whom you’ve not seen for a while. Milan Jacovich is a tad older, a tad tetchier, a tad more profane than the last time we encountered him, but he’s still welcome to share my space with me! Special thanks, then, are due to Les Roberts (Milan’s creator) and Gray & Company (Milan’s new publisher) for this early holiday gift. Picking up with a friend is one thing; attending one’s high school reunion is quite another. In this new book King of the Holly Hop -- the private eye’s 14th adventure since Roberts moved here some 20 years or so ago -- Milan attends his truncated 40th class reunion. Bless his heart! It ain’t fun, that’s for sure.

All the favorite hang-outs are here, and the local touches make it so much more personal. Chances are you’ll have been to at least one of the places Milan likes, or maybe all of them. And why not? His creator has great taste! Roberts hasn’t lost any of his dry wit or writing skills while he’s not been writing Milan stories, however. His pungent remarks, analysis of people and perceptions of society are still top-notch.

Milan hasn’t really stayed close to most of his high school classmates; too much water under the bridge for that to have happened. That doesn’t lessen the shock when one classmate is found murdered, and another is the prime suspect. There’s no real reason for Milan to become involved in the case, but the suspect (probably the most famous and well-to-do graduate) has other ideas. He appeals to a local attorney to hire Milan in the hope of uncovering someone else’s secrets. And of course, Milan does just that.

Milan’s class has a wide assortment of characters – as do they all, mine included – so he has enough investigating to do that he enlists a local free-lance investigator to help him out. Suzanne Davis is a terrific character, and it would be nice to see more of her in future books. (hint, hint!) To balance her out, Milan tangles again with Police Lieutenant McHargue, who, according to Milan gets irritated just seeing his name in the phone book, let alone sitting on the other side of her desk.

There’s no question that it was murder. But there are so many possible perps, it keeps Milan hopping! Phil Kohn, smarmy even in high school, hasn’t improved any with age and his medical degree, providing Milan with plenty of reasons for his sudden demise. He’s irritated so many people through the years that finding the culprit isn’t nearly as easy as it might be. Too many choices tend to complicate things.

Class nerd Tommy Wiggins is now a successful playwright, with one supremely unhappy memory of his high school years, thanks to Kohn. Class hippie/druggie Ted Lesnevich has moved up in the world to handling higher cost stuff these days. Class beauty Alenka Tavcar is a successful real estate agent, newly separated from her husband, while Jack and Barbara Siegel’s marriage nearly floundered over Kohn’s finagling.

There’s Danielle Webber for whom Milan had carried a torch. She’s now Mrs. Magruder (wife of the attorney). And of course, along with Milan’s ex-wife, Lila, there's the super-efficient Sonja Kokol, whose social attitudes haven’t changed in forty years, and Bernie Rothman,who obsessed over Alenka. Stupan Godic went to Nam and never recovered, emotionally. Maurice Paich, who only ever wanted to be an actor, ended up on the radio, trying desperately to keep his secrets hidden. Cleveland is still a small town, after all. Some never outgrew their suspicion of those who looked ‘different’ such as Shareeka Washington Worthman. She's now a wealthy and prominent African-American business owner, who was never really invited to the reunion.

Milan works his way through these and other more familiar characters as he tries to sort out who did what and why. There’s Ed Stahl, and (Louie) Vuk, plus Victor Gaimari and his uncle, Don Giancarlo D’Allessandro, formerly of Little Italy.

It’s most satisfying reunion, except, of course, for Milan’s classmates.

Read a sample of Roberts' new novel by clicking here.

Learn more about Gray & Company at http://www.grayco.com.

Meet Les Roberts at the Loganberry Books' Local Author Book Fair this Saturday, June 28. For more information, visit http://www.loganberrybooks.com/events.html.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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