A slick con man posing as a recent Irish immigrant preys on the clannish loyalties of Cleveland’s Irish community until a local judge gets angry and hires Milan Jacovich to chase down the swindler. But the con man turns up dead in a motel room, and Milan suddenly finds himself entangled in the world of the powerful local Irish godfather, Con McCardle. Milan learns a lot about Irish customs—including “the Irish sports pages.” If you don’t know what they are—you’ll have to read this one to find out.

“A roller coaster ride of a mystery… Roberts speeds the reader through an investigation offering plenty of delicious twists and turns.” (Publisher’s Weekly)

Excerpt: I’d been in the Third District almost a thousand times, but whenever I walked through the door, the odor there always brought me up short. Big-city police headquarters have their own unique stink, like hospitals or pre-school day care centers or taxidermy shops. Stale cigarette smoke, even though in most public buildings on-premises smoking has been declared a hanging offense. Bad, burnt coffee that’s been sitting on the hotplate too long. The stinging ammonia scent of disinfectant. The odor of fear—the fear of the power and majesty of the law, the fear of God, the fear of doing time in a prison cell with a 300-pound guy with tattoos and body piercings who insists on calling you Rosemary. And the rank, fetid stench of old, sometimes terrible crimes.

Publisher: Gray & Company (2006)

Pages: 271

Original Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (2002)