Synopsis
(from the publisher):
Going to your high school reunion is never fun. But this time, it's
murder.
When Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich reluctantly attends the
fortieth reunion of his St. Clair High School graduating class, he gets
a rude surprise. One of his classmates is found shot dead and another
quickly becomes the main suspect.
Investigating his former schoolmates is an uncomfortable task for
Milan, as he soon discovers the dark secrets of people he only thought
he knew.
The deceased Dr. Phil Kohn, it turns out, was a cad who managed to make
more than a few enemies during his abbreviated life. But did a
forty-year-old grudge really lead to his death? Or was it something
more recent—a jealous spouse, a shady business partner?
Milan's hunt for the real killer leads him through the oddly
intertwined worlds of Cleveland's medical community, organized crime,
polite suburban society, and hard-core drug dealers.
— ◊ —
— ◊ —
King
of the Holly Hop
A
Milan Jacovich Mystery
Les
Roberts
Gray
and Co. (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59851-038-X (159851038X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59851-038-6 (9781598510386)
Publication Date: June 2008
List Price: $24.95
— ◊ —
Review:
After an absence of almost six years, Cleveland private investigator
Milan Jacovich returns to look into the murder of an old classmate in King of the Holly Hop,
the fourteenth mystery in this series by Les Roberts.
Milan attending his 40th high school reunion probably wouldn't have
been his first choice as a fun evening. But he's there and making the
best of it. It promises to get more interesting, however, when Tommy
Wiggins, a multiple award-winning writer and probably the most famous
of his former classmates, says to Milan, "Machiavelli said you must
never wound a prince. Make sure you kill him." The "prince" turns out
to be Dr. Phil Kohn with his too-good-for-the-rest-of-you attitude.
When Tommy and Phil have a public falling out in the middle of the
reunion festivities, and Phil is later found dead in his car, Tommy is
the prime suspect. Milan doesn't think Tommy did it as there were way
too many other people who hated Phil and wouldn't have hesitated to put
a bullet in his head.
In a way, it's unfortunate that Roberts chooses to introduce all the
characters, including their background information, in the first
chapter of King
of the Holly Hop. Veteran
mystery readers will no doubt immediately identify not only who is
going to be killed but also who is doing the killing. By the end of the
second chapter they'll be proved right about the murder victim, and,
red herrings aside, by the end of the book they'll be proved right
about the murderer. With the whodunit aspect not a factor here, is
there a reason to read this book? Absolutely.
Roberts has a real talent for character development giving Milan an
interesting cast to work with and play off of. That Milan is aging,
sort of gracefully, sort of not, is all the more appealing. He must
rely more on his wits and intellect than on mere physical prowess, not
that he was ever short on the former, and build bridges instead of
burning them. But if one phrase could be used to sum of Milan's
investigative process, it might be this, aptly stated by the murderer
when confronted by Milan: "To put it simply—you get in my
way."
King
of the Holly Hop is a real
treat, whether this is the reader's first introduction to the Cleveland
PI or one merely catching up with an old friend. The first thirteen
books in the series, long out of print, have recently been reissued.
Special thanks to Gray and Co. for providing a copy of King of the Holly Hop for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read King of the Holly Hop? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Pepper
Pike
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), September 1988
ISBN-10: 0-312-02266-2 (0312022662)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-02266-2 (9780312022662)
Full
Cleveland
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), November 1989
ISBN-10: 0-312-03349-4 (0312033494)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-03349-1 (9780312033491)
Deep
Shaker
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), May 1991
ISBN-10: 0-312-05855-1 (0312058551)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-05855-5 (9780312058555)
The
Cleveland
Connection
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), February 1993
ISBN-10: 0-312-08746-2 (0312087462)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-08746-3 (9780312087463)
The
Lake
Effect
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), December 1994
ISBN-10: 0-312-11537-7 (0312115377)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-11537-1 (9780312115371)
The
Duke
of
Cleveland
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), October 1995
ISBN-10: 0-312-13473-8 (0312134738)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-13473-0 (9780312134730)
Collision
Bend
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), September 1996
ISBN-10: 0-312-14570-5 (0312145705)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-14570-5 (9780312145705)
The
Cleveland
Local
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), November 1997
ISBN-10: 0-312-16801-2 (0312168012)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-16801-8 (9780312168018)
A
Shoot
in
Cleveland
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), May 1998
ISBN-10: 0-312-18663-0 (0312186630)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-18663-0 (9780312186630)
The
Best
Kept
Secret
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), August 1999
ISBN-10: 0-312-20499-X (031220499X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-20499-0 (9780312204990)
The
Indian Sign
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), August 2000
ISBN-10: 0-312-25217-X (031225217X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-25217-5 (9780312252175)
The
Dutch
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), July 2001
ISBN-10: 0-312-26579-4 (0312265794)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-26579-3 (9780312265793)
The
Irish
Sports
Pages
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), August 2002
ISBN-10: 0-312-28661-9 (0312286619)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-28661-3 (9780312286613)
King of the Holly Hop
Gray and Co. (Hardcover), June 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59851-038-X (159851038X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59851-038-6 (9781598510386)
Omnimystery
keywords for King of the Holly Hop
...
Location(s) referenced: Cleveland, Ohio.
