UPDATE:  Sorry, there was an error in the setup of the poll expiration time, it has been fixed, and the poll is back open until 5:00pm today. Sorry for any inconvenience. I need your help. There is a dog in my next Milan Jacovich novel, Win, Place, or Die, who needs a name. The dog is a strange-looking fella with short legs and a chunky body (like a Welsh corgi) and a head like a wolf (well, more like a German shepherd). His name used to be “Booger” but for reasons I won’t divulge right now, he needs a new name. With suggestions from local animal organizations, I’ve put together a list of names and I’m asking you to vote for your favorite: There’s a little backstory to each of the names: Savvy is named for a special dog at his facility. He can do about 25 tricks including playing the piano and moonwalking! Herbie is named for a special dog at his facility; Watson reminds us of Sherlock Holmes’ friend, Dr Watson; Eliot is the first name of legendary law enforcement agent Eliot Ness; Marlowe refers to Philip Marlowe, fictional detective from the popular Raymond Chandler novels The name with the… Continue reading →

We now have a cover for my latest book featuring Milan Jacovich, Win, Place, or Die—#17 in the series. This one was written with the help of Dan S. Kennedy, and much of it takes place in the fictional harness racing facility I call “Northcoast Downs.” Look for an announcement on a ship date coming soon.

It is now official!  The title for my latest book featuring Milan Jacovich, Kevin O’Bannion (“K.O.”), Detective Sergeant Tobe Blaine, and Carli Wysocki is “WIN, PLACE or DIE.”  It will be available in June. This one was written with the help of Dan S. Kennedy, and much of it takes place in the fictional harness racing facility I call “Northcoast Downs.”  Dan is himself a horse owner and harness race driver,  and his help and his finishing touches really made this one come to life—so much so that you’ll find the authors to be “LES ROBERTS with DAN S. KENNEDY.”  We didn’t “collaborate,” as I’ve never done that; he didn’t look over my shoulder as I typed.  But he brought me the idea, he supplied me with a four-inch thick stack of material about the sport and the people in it,  he wrote mini-biographies of many of the characters in the harness racing business that I included in the book, he went over everything I’d written and pointed out when and where I screwed up (did you know that in harness racing, they aren’t called “jockeys,” but “drivers,” and they don’t wear “silks,” they wear “colors”), and he allowed me… Continue reading →

On Friday evening, April 5, I had a most unusual (for me) experience.  A few months ago I was enjoying one of our three-times-a-year breakfasts with a dear friend, Carli Cichocki, who was and is the inspiration for a new continuing fictional character, Carli Wysocki, in my Milan Jacovich mystery series.  In the course of breakfast she mentioned that she’d recently posed as a model for a group of artists who get together every Friday night at a little mom-and-pop shot-and-a-beer tavern in Tremont (a trendy old/new neighborhood just west of downtown Cleveland), the Literary Café.  The group calls themselves The Pretentious Tremont Artist Group, run by artist Tim Herron—and the members themselves run from being “just beginners” to established NE Ohio artists.  The model sits at a table in the back room, and everyone sits around them, some just a few feet away, and they sketch, paint, and draw what they SEE.   Carli suggested it might be fun if I did it, too.  They don’t pay models anything, but they give you all the originals to take home, and you can pretty much drink whatever you like during the session. So she set it up for me, and I arrived up shortly before… Continue reading →

On the evening of Tuesday, April 2, 2013, Hiram College held its very first “An Evening of Hiram Writers Contest Compilation.”  It’s quite a mouthful, but I was delighted to attend to meet the young writers and hear them read excerpts from their work—Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Short Fiction. Many of those readings just about knocked my socks off! Hiram boasts the Lindsey-Crane Center for Writing and Literature.  It’s not just sitting in class and taking notes; it’s an actual CENTER—two buildings, century homes on campus that have been remodeled into writing centers—and it is intriguing candidates from all over the world who want to learn creative writing.    It makes me wish I’d gone to Hiram myself—although back in the Neanderthal days when I went to college, there was NO Lindsay-Crane Center.  And I’m delighted to be on their advisory board now—because since I began with them about three years ago, I’ve grown to love and be amazed by Hiram College, so much so that in my forthcoming Milan Jacovich novel, NOW entitled “Win, Place or Die,” I’ve set a chunk of the story at the Hiram campus.  (I fold in a bit of Hiram history amongst the fictional murders—and… Continue reading →

It took me a few days to think over what I saw Sunday night on the Oscar show—all three and a half hours of it.  Now I guess I’m ready to discuss it. First: ALL the women looked beautiful and were dressed tastefully and classy, except possibly Kristen Stewart, who can’t seem to do ANYTHING but look like a sullen teenager.  She can’t even comb her hair! Charlize Theron is a goddess. PERIOD! Host Seth MacFarlane was very funny MOST of the time.  His early song, “I’ve Seen Your Boobs,” was about as abysmally distasteful as one could get on a TV show that probably had lots of kids watching it.  And all the films he mentioned in that song (except one) in which the female stars were partially nude were GREAT films, and a few of the women won Oscars for them.  I don’t think Theron, Kate Winslet or Halle Berry won Academy Awards for showing their breasts.  His FINAL song with Kristen Chenowith, all about “losers,” was mean-spirited.  And his joke about Abraham Lincoln being shot in the head was probably not the best idea to spring on a country filled with real rage on both sides over… Continue reading →

CHANGES are what we live with every day of our lives.  Sometimes the changes are good and sometimes not.  We manage to survive. I’ve had a couple of changes recently.  First—I finished my next Milan Jacovich novel.  From the beginning I planned on titling it “Dead Money,” a racing term that goes with the plot and setting.  But someone else has written a murder mystery set at a racetrack, too, it will be published (I think only as an Ebook) before mine, and HE is calling his book “Dead Money.”  We don’t know each other personally, and I doubt he’s copied my work, as from what I’ve read our plots are dissimilar.  HOWEVER, I’ve learned a lesson from this, and from now on, although I’ll talk openly about my work in progress, I won’t tell anyone the title of the book until shortly before it’s published.  So everyone, please watch for what USED to be MY “Dead Money” this spring. I went through another change, too, a much bigger one.  It’s completely awakened me, so that I’m now living my truth.  Last summer we watched the most extraordinary documentary film.  It’s called “Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home.”  Produced by James… Continue reading →

Ten minutes ago—at eight minutes after midnight on January 21, 2013, the day on which Barack Obama will be inaugurated for the second time as President of the United States—I typed the words THE END on my Milan Jacovic manuscript, “Dead Money.” It’s a moment of relief, of course.  I began writing this book some time in March of 2012.  I thought I’d finish it more quickly than I have, but many things got in the way, mostly positive.  Life-changing, exhilarating, exciting, and of course time-consuming events and decisions shouldered their way into my world and slowed down my writing a bit.  Now, though, I am DONE.  Feels wonderful. Not really done, to tell the truth.  Much editing and changing a word or phrase awaits me, whether I like it or not.  There is ONE character in the book whose name must be changed—and a contest is being run to decide what the name change will be.  And by the way, the “character” is a DOG.  In “Dead Money” I stuck him with a TERRIBLE dog’s name, and at the end of the book I’ll change it to something much nicer—and Milan will be keeping it!  In the meantime I’m submitting the manuscript… Continue reading →

The holidays are over.  The hangovers, hopefully, have been cured (I didn’t drink alcohol at all on Dec. 31st).  The Christmas gifts have already been worn, eaten, put away, or exchanged.  The wishes for “Happy” and “Merry” have faded away for another 11 months.  And though nothing bad should happen to retailers, I hope there will be no more “Black Fridays” or “Sneaky Thursdays” or any other bait-and-switch holidays which will lure us out of our routines and into stores or poring over ridiculouskly discounted sales on the Internet.  We managed somehow not to go over “the fiscal cliff” (who in hell coined that dumb expression, anyway?).  We celebrated New Years Day yesterday, and already the stores are overflowing with Valentine’s Day decorations and gift hints.  Can Easter be far behind?  (Sigh) My personal and professional excitement has finally slowed down, too.  The Bouchercon 2012 convention that so beautifully honored me is no more, Eric Coble’s hit play based on my book, “A Carol for Cleveland,” has closed at the Cleveland Play House, and the only party I’m planning to attend in January is the milestone birthday celebration of a good friend. All of which means that except for the imminent surprise addition of (cat)… Continue reading →

Sunday, December 23,  features the last two performances this year of “A Carol for Cleveland” at the Cleveland Play House.  I’ve been thrilled with the new appearance of all 27 books I’ve written, but I’ve never been quite so jazzed as seeing one of them adapted so brilliantly by playwright Eric Coble and having its world premiere at the oldest professional repertory theater company in the United States.  I’ve seen it many times. now (not counting rehearsals)—from a private box with my 4 year old grandson Parker (who didn’t make a sound), from the second row center, from the back row of the orchestra, from over on the right side—and it overwhelms me anew each time.  That’s how good I think it is—and I take very little credit for its BEING that good. And each time I cry at the end.  Yeah, I know–I’m supposed to be a hardboiled type who only cries when the Browns lose.  But what the gifted Eric Coble added to my 32-page story to make it an entire evening’s entertainment, and the twist at the last moment that STILL takes me by surprise every time, really grabs me by the heart.  The Play House has advertised… Continue reading →