cover image Full Cleveland

Full Cleveland

Les Roberts, Lee Roberts. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (230pp) ISBN 978-0-312-03349-1

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. (Nov.)