Whiskey Island
by Les Roberts

Whiskey Island is the 16th book in the Milan Jacovich series. Milan Jacovich (MY-lan YOCK-o-vich) is Cleveland's very own private eye and the subject of this latest book from author Les Roberts is ripped right out of the Cleveland headlines.

County corruption has been in the news for the last several years in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County as dozens of officials (a County Commissioner, County Auditor, judges and so on) have been indicted, tried and sentenced. Whiskey Island begins with a city councilman requesting Milan and his new sidekick K.O. to help find who is trying to kill him. But it evolves into more than that as murder becomes part of the mix.

The parallels to what those of us in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have been seeing in the news are obvious though the real cases are all about greed, special favors and bribery and didn't reach the nadir of murder and other violence. Part of the fun of the book is seeing if the characters in the book have any obvious connection to the real-life corrupt officials.

The addition of K.O. (short for Kevin O'Bannion) is solidified in this story. He was introduced in the last book, The Cleveland Creep, and it looks like he is here to stay. In fact, the book alternates chapters from the perspective of Milan and K.O.

K.O. adds a new dimension to the stories - he is young, inexperienced and gets into scrapes that could be fatal to Milan at this stage of his career. He also has a love interest but, as the story progresses, so does Milan.

Those who have read the series from the start may miss some of the Slovenian, old-world-Cleveland components of Milan's life as about half the pages deal with the young Irishman K.O. but if this addition makes it possible for more Jacovich stories, I am all for it.

Reviewed by Dan Hanson