Full Cleveland
A Milan Jacovich Mystery
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
#2 in the Milan Jacovich mystery series . . .
"Slick and tough and plotted to perfection." — Booklist
"Fast-paced and smoothly narrated." — Washington Post
"Tightly plotted and contains rich characterizations painted with a minimalist's brush." — Drood Review of Mystery
"Clever plotting, a fresh locale, and an ingratiatingly human sleuth add up to a winner." — San Diego Union Tribune
Polyester leisure suit, white patent leather shoes, matching white belt—that 1970s fashion statement was once unkindly dubbed the "full Cleveland." And no one wears it with more flair and panache than Buddy Bustamente.
Buddy ("he was medium-sized if you happened to be talking about Cape buffaloes") is the hulking flunky assigned by mob kingpin Victor Gaimari to shadow Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich (it's pronounced MY-lan YOCK-ovich).
Milan has been hired to find the perpetrator of a low-level scam who is selling local businessmen ads in a magazine that doesn't exist. But the modest amount of money involved hardly seems worth the string of bodies he soon turns up. And why does it interest a mobster like Victor and his sugar-addict bird dog, Buddy?
Milan starts liking Buddy in spite of himself. But he's not easily fooled; Buddy is a recent ex-con, and Milan knows that behind the childlike façade and dubious fashion, he is potentially lethal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cleveland sleuth Milan Jacovich (last met in Pepper Pike ) again has his hands full in this amusing, uncomplicated mystery. A ``full Cleveland'' is a polyester or seersucker suit, enhanced by a white patent-leather belt and matching shoes. The mob has been conned, buying hotel advertising in a nonexistent magazine. They insist that Buddy Bustamente tag along with Jacovich as he looks into the scam. Greg Shane, would-be publisher of North Coast Magazine , sold ad space to a number of pigeons and, as Jacovich checks the victims out (with Bustamente embarrassingly in tow, sporting mustard-hued polyester, white belt and shoes), he finds that while some were ``honestly'' plucked, others were blackmailed into paying far more for non-ads than they should have. Meanwhile, North Coast Magazine staffers are, one-by-one, being bumped off. Jacovich, a garrulous Spenser/Magnum PI hybrid, fillets a small, lonely herring with aplomb, and though Roberts's un-devious plotting and easy conversational tone make for zero surprises, he does provide agreeable, page-turning entertainment.
