Collision Bend

Les Roberts

Virginia Carville was one of the rising stars in the local Cleveland television news scene. She had worked herself up from a college intern to a field reporter. She follows her stories and looks for news. Or she did. Now she is found dead in her home, strangled.

Milan Jakovich is a private detective in Cleveland. He is working in his office when his ex-lover walks into his office. She had tied him in knots when she dumped him three years earlier for one of the salesmen at the television station. She wants Milan to check into Carville's murder. The prime suspect is her current lover, the man Milan hates. Mary Soderberg knows but can't prove Steve Cirini didn't kill Carville. Milan agrees to take the care, even though he hates Cirini.

So Milan starts to investigate. He has about a week before the police pull in Cirini as the probable suspect. He has to prove otherwise. The more he learns about Carville, Milan has to wonder whether she was killed for personal reasons or for business reasons. Was she investigating a hot story that someone didn't want known? Or did her lover, Cirini, kill her in a moment of blackmail or passion or something else?

When Les Roberts puts Milan Jakovich on the case, the reader doesn't know what to expect except the unexpected. Although the murder may look fairly straightforward, Milan keeps digging. Like in the other novels in the series, he finds things that are not hinted at previously in the book. Although by the end I knew who was the murderer, that's only because I was able to follow enough of Milan's suspicions and figure it out. Even though, the end still surprises.

Collision Bend is part of a series based on a Slovenian detective in Cleveland, Ohio. Roberts uses the scenery of Cleveland to make the book feel real. There is an ongoing story between the books about Jakovich, his life, and his friends. Yet the mystery is new, complete, and separate from the personal...well, not totally. What I mean is that each book can be read on it's own for the storyline. If you want to follow Jakovich's life and watch his sons grow, his friends and he change, read them in order. But it isn't necessary. This is a good book with plot twists that aren't hinted at until Jakovich gets to them himself.

Notice: Non-graphic violence, Strong indecent language, Suggestive dialogue or situations

Pepper Pike
Full Cleveland
Deep Shaker
The Cleveland Connection
The Lake Effect
The Duke of Cleveland
Collision Bend
The Cleveland Local
A Shoot in Cleveland
The Best-Kept Secret
Indian Sign
The Dutch
The Irish Sports Pages
King of the Holly Hop
The Cleveland Creep
Whiskey Island