Les Roberts (author)

Les Roberts (born July 18, 1937) is an American screenwriter and mystery novelist.

Early life and education

Roberts was born Lester Roubert, to Lester Nathaniel and Eleanor (Bauch) Roubert in Chicago, Illinois. He changed his name to Roberts in 1968.

He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Roosevelt University from 1954 to 1956. Roberts served in the United States Army from 1960 to 1962.

Writing career

Roberts began his career as a contemporary American mystery novelist after twenty-four years in Hollywood, having written and/or produced more than 2,500 half-hour segments of network and syndicated television. ^{[1] [2]} He was the first producer and head writer of The Hollywood Squares , and has written for The Lucy Show , The Andy Griffith Show , The Jackie Gleason Show and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , among others. ^[3]

Roberts is primarily seen as a regional writer. Though his Saxon series is set in Los Angeles, he is best known for his Milan Jacovich series set in his adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Jacovich, unlike many single, dashing private eyes of fiction, is a battered, Stroh's-drinking, polka-dancing Slovenian American Vietnam veteran, ex-cop, and former Kent State football star, with a Serbian strong-willed ex-wife and two sons that he sees every other Sunday. Jacovich's working-guy attitude has endeared him to many Cleveland readers.

He is past president of the Private Eye Writers of America and the regular mystery book critic for The Plain Dealer . He has been a professional actor, singer, businessman, teacher and jazz musician.

Social views

Roberts became a vegan c. 2012 after watching 'Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home' stating:

Humane slaughter is a bit of misnomer. Chicken, cows, pigs. They are all intelligent, sentient, emotional creatures and we treat them like we would an old pair of shoes. How could we ever eat animals again after that? ^[4]

Personal life

Roberts married Gail Medland in 1957. They divorced in 1980. Roberts has two children: Valerie Lynne and Darren Jon; and one grandchild, Shea Holland Thompson. He currently lives in Stow, Ohio.

Bibliography

The Saxon series

• An Infinite Number Of Monkeys (1987 ISBN   978-1-930916-30-2)
• Not Enough Horses (1988 ISBN   978-1-930916-32-6)
• A Carrot For The Donkey (1989 ISBN   978-0-312-02554-0)
• Snake Oil (1990 ISBN   978-0-312-04424-4)
• Seeing The Elephant (1992 ISBN   978-1-930916-33-3)
• The Lemon Chicken Jones (1994 ISBN   978-0-312-10490-0)

The Milan Jacovich series

• Pepper Pike (1988: ISBN   978-1-59851-001-0)
• Full Cleveland (1989 ISBN   978-1-59851-002-7)
• Deep Shaker (1991 ISBN   978-1-59851-003-4)
• The Cleveland Connection (1993 ISBN   978-1-59851-004-1)
• The Lake Effect (1994 ISBN   978-1-59851-005-8)
• The Duke Of Cleveland (1995 ISBN   978-1-59851-006-5)
• Collision Bend (1996 ISBN   978-1-59851-007-2)
• The Cleveland Local (1997 ISBN   978-1-59851-008-9)
• A Shoot In Cleveland (1998 ISBN   978-1-59851-009-6)
• The Best-Kept Secret (1999 ISBN   978-1-59851-010-2)
• The Indian Sign (2000 ISBN   978-1-59851-011-9)
• The Dutch (2001 ISBN   978-1-59851-012-6)
• The Irish Sports Pages (2002 ISBN   978-1-59851-013-3)
• King of the Holly Hop (2008 ISBN   978-1-59851-054-6)
• The Cleveland Creep (2011 ISBN   978-1-59851-071-3)
• Whiskey Island (2012 ISBN   978-1-93844-139-4)
• Win, Place, or Die (with co-author Dan S. Kennedy) (2013 ISBN   978-1-93844-137-0)
• The Ashtabula Hat Trick (2015 ISBN   978-1-938441-71-4)
• Speaking of Murder (with co-author Dan S. Kennedy) (2016 ISBN   978-1-938441-84-4)

Other

• A Carol for Cleveland (1991 ISBN   0-944125-18-2)
• The Chinese Fire Drill (2001 ISBN   978-0-7862-3760-9)
• The Scent of Spiced Oranges and Other Stories (2002 ISBN   978-0-7862-4331-0)
• We'll Always Have Cleveland (2006 ISBN   978-1-59851-014-0)
• The Strange Death of Father Candy (Dominick Candiotti #1) (2011 ISBN   978-0-31256-633-3)
• Wet Work (Dominick Candiotti #2) (2014 ISBN   978-1938441547)
• Sheehan's Dog (2022 ISBN   9781643962474)

Awards

In 1986 he won the inaugural "Best First Private Eye Novel Contest" for An Infinite Number of Monkeys in 1986. ^[5] This novel was also nominated for the 1988 Anthony Award for "Best First Novel" and the Shamus Award the same year in the same category. ^{[6] [7]} The following year, the initial novel in the Milan Jacovich series was nominated for the 1989 Anthony Award in the "Best Novel" category. ^[6] Next, Roberts also won the 1992 Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature and has been voted "Cleveland's Favorite Author" by Cleveland.com. ^{[1] [2] [8]} The novel The Lake Effect was nominated for the 1995 Shamus Award in the "Best Private Eye Novel" category. ^[7]

References

1. Schmitt, Angie (September 26, 2007). "Author to visit Youngstown". The Vindicator . p. B1. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
2. "Author to visit Youngstown". Vindy.com. 2007-09-26. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
3. "Les Roberts". IMDb. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
4. "No mystery to favorite vegan spots of author Les Roberts: Five for Friday" . Retrieved 9 February 2018.
5. "Omni Mystery Book Awards". Awards.omnimystery.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
6. "Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Awards Nominees". Bouchercon.info. 2003-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
7. "The Private Eye Writers of America and The Shamus Awards". Thrillingdetective.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
8. "Cleveland Arts Prize Archive". Clevelandartsprize.org. Retrieved 2012-03-13.

External links

• Official website