The Lake Effect

Les Roberts

It is the time Milan knew had to come, but hope would not. Victor Gaimari, the second in command of the Cleveland mob, is recalling the favor Milan owes.

Milan Jacovich is a private detective in Cleveland, Ohio. A year or so beforehe was involved in saving the son of a friend. In the process, he needed to ask for a favor from Victor's family. Now it is time to pay up. Milan had been able to stipulation that his payback would not be illegal or unethical. Gaimari kept that part of the promise.

Milan is now the security man for a woman running in a small mayoral race in a suburb east of Cleveland. It is an upscale, WASP community that has had the same mayor for many years. Barbara Corns' platform is "Back to the Basics", attempting to stem the rampant growth around her small community. The Mob's interest in this election is unclear. A favor, though, is a favor. Milan does not see much hope for Corns and does not like many of the people working for her. He has never been involved in politics before. All of this seems strange. When a prominent woman from the community gets killed by a hit skip in downtown Cleveland Milan cannot help but wonder at the coincidence.

This is another wonderful Milan Jocovich mystery. I haven't read them in order. While this does not affect the mystery at all, it does affect how we learn personal facts about Milan. I don't think that is as important as some other mystery series, but still disconcerting at times. The mystery is well done. It is very difficult to understand why the Mob would be interested in such an insignificant mayoral race. As Milan uncovers more facts things do not always get clearer. The ending pulls some good surprises.

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
Best Kept Secret
Indian Sign
The Dutch
The Irish Sports Pages

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