Les Roberts gets confidential with ‘The C.I.’ | Book Talk
Stow author Les Roberts has taken a break from his long-running Milan Jacovich detective series, but his new novel “The C.I.” also takes place in Northeast Ohio. It’s about a sad-sack underachiever who’s caught in a tangle of drugs and tribulations.
Jericho “Jerry” Paich is in his mid-20s and works at a Twinsburg software firm. He’s found the mettle to move out of his histrionic mother’s Shaker Heights home and into an Ohio City apartment. He has a girlfriend, Jill, who’s much more sexually adventurous than he is, but his life is otherwise mundane.
Jill surprises Jerry when she tells her she’s been a meth dealer for a long time and that she’s taking an extended trip to Cincinnati, during which she expects him to take over the business. He’s spineless and naïve enough to agree, but before two weeks have gone by, he’s busted.
Mayo, a brutal narcotics detective, takes full advantage of Jerry’s greenness and coerces him into a sort of indentured service as a confidential informant. Jerry will find buyers for his drugs and report them to Mayo, who’s eager to rack up his arrests and be promoted to lieutenant. It doesn’t occur to Jerry to ask for a lawyer.
After six agonizing months, Jerry goes to his mother’s boyfriend, an ex-Marine, and pleads for help. Laird doesn’t harbor any paternal feelings for Jerry, but his sense of duty spurs him to take a hand. The story includes a reclusive drug lord who has a county commissioner in his pocket, organized crime figures and the FBI. Many characters are racists and there are frequent recapitulation of the plot elements.
“The C.I.” (345 pages, softcover) costs $20.95 from Down & Out Books.
Three books from one author
Tappan Hall. Academy of Music. Grand Opera House. All places of entertainment for Akron residents; all gone. “Curtain Up, Light the Lights: A history of Akron Area Theatres – John Eberson’s Loews and More” by Akron native Sharon Moreland Myers is an exhaustive history of entertainment venues, all the way back to 1837.
Many of the early opera houses, some lavish and some bare bones, burned down. Akron’s still-running Tuesday Musical Club (now Association), founded in 1887, used the German-American Music Hall until 1917, when it was torn down and they moved to the Akron Armory.
Akron hosted many silent movie theaters, as well as vaudeville houses and later burlesque. Myers records both small neighborhood theaters and their fates, drive-ins and modern cineplexes. The pinnacle, of course, is the Civic Theatre.
Another of Myers’ new books is “They Died for the Stars and Stripes: Civil War Veterans of Summit County and How the Civil War Changed Akron,” which contains a list of more than 2,500 names and amazingly researched information about almost every one. Sharon Moreland Myers also is the author of a similar book about Summit County veterans of the War of 1812, and books about Akron neighborhoods and the oldest standing buildings in Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake.
“Town Crier: Kenneth Nichols, Akron Beacon Journal 1972-1973” is Myers’ second volume of compilations of the columnist who retired in 1981 and died in 1987. The previous book covered 1941-1942 and reflected wartime sentiments; “1972-1973” refers to bygone restaurants, the women’s liberation movement and the disappointing Browns. A Goodyear employee entered a raffle and won “a $2,000 Hamilton watch that’s really a miniature computer.”
“Curtain Up” (159 pages), “Stars and Stripes” (387 pages) and “Town Crier 1972-1973) cost $24.99 each from online retailers.
Sharon Moreland Myers is one of about 18 local authors who will appear at the second annual Lit Fest, sponsored by Shelf Life Books, Friday and Saturday at the Cuyahoga Falls Library. (See event listing below for more information.)
Events
Fireside Book Shop (29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls): Pat Johnson presents “A Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Photography of Pat Johnson, 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Bay Village branch, 27400 Wolf Road): Pat Johnson presents “A Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Kent State University Bookstore (1075 Risman Drive): Former Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste signs his memoir “In the Heart of It All: An Unvarnished Account of My Life in Public Service,” noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (North Olmsted branch, 27403 Lorain Road): Brendan Slocum discusses his novel “Symphony of Secrets,” about a music historian trying to authenticate the newly discovered work of a famous composer, 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. From 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Mark Dawidziak talks about “A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe.” Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Brecksville branch, 9089 Brecksville Road): Pat Johnson presents “A Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Mac’s Backs (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights): Poets Christine Hume (“Everything I Wanted to Know”) and Laura Larson (“Hidden Mother”) read from their work, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. From 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, photographer Steven Begleiter reads from his debut novel “Leaving Cleveland.” At 7 p.m. Friday, Bex Mui launches her memoir “House of Our Queer: Healing, Reframing, and Reclaiming Your Spiritual Practice.”
The Union Club (1211 Euclid Ave., Cleveland): Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch talks about her memoir “Lessons from the Edge” at a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. The cost for non-members is $40. Register at ccwa.org.
Lakewood Public Library (15425 Detroit Ave.): David Spero talks about “A Life in the Wings: My Sixty Year Love Affair with Rock and Roll: A Memoir” and his work as manager for artists including Michael Stanley, Joe Walsh and John Fogerty, 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Chagrin Falls branch, 100 E. Orange St.): Pat Johnson presents “A Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow branch, 2121 Snow Road): Martha Hall Kelly (“Lilac Girls”) talks about “The Golden Doves,” about two women working in the French Resistance during World War II, 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The $30 admission includes a copy of the book. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Canton Palace Theatre (605 Market Ave. N.): Today Show co-host Dylan Dreyer joins the Dr. Audrey Lavin Speaking of Books series, talking about her picture books “Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day” and “Misty the Cloud: Friends through Rain and Shine,” 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at starklibrary.org.
Dover Public Library (525 N. Walnut St.): Wooster author Bob Adamov talks about his books, including the Put-in-Bay-set Emerson Moore thriller series, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at doverlibrary.org.
Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Michael Sampson and Olena Kharchenko read from their picture book “The Story of Ukraine: An Anthem of Glory and Freedom,” 7 p.m. Thursday. At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, author Quartez Harris appears.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Strongsville branch, 18700 Westwood Drive): Pat Johnson presents “A Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Massillon Museum: As part of the 2023 Big Read project, Charles Yu, author of “Interior Chinatown,” the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, talks about his work, including “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” in a Facebook Live event at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Beachwood branch, 25501 Shaker Blvd.): Judah Leblang discusses “Echoes of Jerry: One Man’s Search for His Deaf Uncle and His Own Voice,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library (Lee Road branch, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights): Carole Emberton talks about “To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library: William Kent Kruger, whose “Ordinary Grace” won the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Novel, talks about “Fox Creek,” latest in the Cork O’Connor mystery series about a part-Ojibwe man in Minnesota, in a Zoom event at 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at smfpl.org.
Cuyahoga Falls Library (2015 Third St.): The second annual Lit Fest, sponsored by Shelf Life Books, will begin at 2 p.m. Friday with workshops and readings, and continue through 3 p.m. Saturday with a book fair featuring about 18 local authors. Some events require registration. See the schedule and names at fallslibrary.org.
Cleveland Public Library (Martin Luther King Jr. branch, 1962 Stokes Blvd,): Jon Ballom Jr. discusses “But It Don’t Feel OK!,” about the effects of domestic violence on children, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Also at 1 p.m., Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour presents a virtual poetry reading; visit ohiocenterforthebook.org. to register.
Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Novelist Les Roberts returns with ‘The C.I.’ | Book Talk
