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.<ref name="vindy1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="vindy2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
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?<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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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 Template:ISBN)
- Not Enough Horses (1988 Template:ISBN)
- A Carrot For The Donkey (1989 Template:ISBN)
- Snake Oil (1990 Template:ISBN)
- Seeing The Elephant (1992 Template:ISBN)
- The Lemon Chicken Jones (1994 Template:ISBN)
The Milan Jacovich series
- Pepper Pike (1988: Template:ISBN)
- Full Cleveland (1989 Template:ISBN)
- Deep Shaker (1991 Template:ISBN)
- The Cleveland Connection (1993 Template:ISBN)
- The Lake Effect (1994 Template:ISBN)
- The Duke Of Cleveland (1995 Template:ISBN)
- Collision Bend (1996 Template:ISBN)
- The Cleveland Local (1997 Template:ISBN)
- A Shoot In Cleveland (1998 Template:ISBN)
- The Best-Kept Secret (1999 Template:ISBN)
- The Indian Sign (2000 Template:ISBN)
- The Dutch (2001 Template:ISBN)
- The Irish Sports Pages (2002 Template:ISBN)
- King of the Holly Hop (2008 Template:ISBN)
- The Cleveland Creep (2011 Template:ISBN)
- Whiskey Island (2012 Template:ISBN)
- Win, Place, or Die (with co-author Dan S. Kennedy) (2013 Template:ISBN)
- The Ashtabula Hat Trick (2015 Template:ISBN)
- Speaking of Murder (with co-author Dan S. Kennedy) (2016 Template:ISBN)
Other
- A Carol for Cleveland (1991 Template:ISBN)
- The Chinese Fire Drill (2001 Template:ISBN)
- The Scent of Spiced Oranges and Other Stories (2002 Template:ISBN)
- We'll Always Have Cleveland (2006 Template:ISBN)
- The Strange Death of Father Candy (Dominick Candiotti #1) (2011 Template:ISBN)
- Wet Work (Dominick Candiotti #2) (2014 Template:ISBN)
- Sheehan's Dog (2022 Template:ISBN)
Awards
In 1986 he won the inaugural "Best First Private Eye Novel Contest" for An Infinite Number of Monkeys in 1986.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="anthony">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="shamus">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The following year, the initial novel in the Milan Jacovich series was nominated for the 1989 Anthony Award in the "Best Novel" category.<ref name="anthony"/> Next, Roberts also won the 1992 Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature and has been voted "Cleveland's Favorite Author" by Cleveland.com.<ref name="vindy1"/><ref name="vindy2"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The novel The Lake Effect was nominated for the 1995 Shamus Award in the "Best Private Eye Novel" category.<ref name="shamus"/>