Jacovich is definitely Slovenian. And yes, Saxon came first.
I always picture Saxon as Les's more vain twin while Milan is
something else entirely. (Which I'll elaborate on when I get
to DEEP SHAKER in a couple of weeks.)
I've heard quite a few stories on Les's adventures with the
piano, too. I heard one time he and Ruth Cavin sat down
together in the lounge of a Philadelphia hotel and played a
few songs together.
(Actually, wasn't that you, Dennis, that told me that story?
Or am I thinking of someone else?)
Jim Winter
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Lynds" <
dennislynds@cox.net> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, August 01,
2005 1:17 AM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: A CARROT FOR THE DONKEY
by Les Roberts
>I think Les's Cleveland detective is a Slovak not a
Slovene. And I think
>he
> had started that series along with the Saxson before
he left LA for Shaker
> Heights.
>
> By the way, do you all know my old buddy Les is an
accomplished lounge
> pianist? Very suave.
>
> Dennis
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James R. Winter" <
winter_writes@earthlink.net>
> To: <
DetecToday@yahoogroups.com>; "Rara Avis"
> <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 8:50 PM
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: A CARROT FOR THE DONKEY by Les
Roberts
>
>
>> The third Saxon novel finds the actor-cum-PI
going to Tijuana to retrieve
> the missing daughter of a coked-up Hollywood
director with more money than
> he knows what to do with. Merissa Evering runs off
to Mexico with a
> sleazewad immigration lawyer named Martin Swanner.
Swanner leaves a trail
> of pissed-off people everywhere he goes, especially
in Tijauna, where
> Saxon
> finds him dead. He also finds himself a guest of the
local constabulary,
> who have decidedly un-American views on Miranda and
police brutality.
> Never
> the less, Saxon gets out and finds himself tangling
with a local gang lord
> and a petulant young bullfighter. His fruitless
search for Merissa leads
> him to an affair with the irresistable Carmen and
into a web of illegal
> immigrant smuggling and the worst Tijuana has to
offer. Between this and
> Kent Harrington's DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, I have pretty
much crossed TJ off my
> list of places to visit.
>>
>> This has got to be the most cynical Les Roberts
novel I've read to date.
> In the opening chapters, he constantly slams and
zings the Hollywood
> system
> and culture. With a copyright date of 1989, it's
pretty clear this was
> during his transition from Los Angeles to Cleveland,
where he became
> better
> known for the Milan Jacovich series. And I'm pretty
sure Milan would have
> held his own much better in TJ than Saxon. But then
Jacovich is a Vietnam
> vet, an ex-cop, and a long time PI. Saxon is an
actor using the PI gig to
> support his acting habit. Naturally, he's going to
be a little less
> durable - and Roberts certainly beats the snot out
of him in this one -
> and
> a lot more vain than his Slovenian rust belt
counterpart. He frets about
> his waistline and his looks as he's beaten, shot at,
and starved.
>>
>> The story offers a solid plot, with the Carmen
subplot sounding a little
> off until the very end, when Roberts ties up her
role rather nicely. His
> picture of Tijuana as hell on Earth is what drives
this story, the sheer
> stink of desperation of the place, crushing poverty
and squalid
> conditions.
> I asked someone who'd been there this weekend if it
was really that bad.
> She read Harrington's book and said, "Yes. It's that
bad."
>>
>> Along with DIA, which was written some 12 years
later (? Someone know
> when that was originally released?), CARROT also
conjured up images from
> THE
> SUN ALSO RISES. Instead of Spain, though, the
bullfights take place in
> TJ,
> and the difference between clean, rich Madrid and
depressed Tijuana are
> striking. Sometimes, during the bullfight sections,
Roberts even lapses
> into Hemingway's style, though not with glaringly
obvious riffs on the
> minimalist gems like "He went to the river. The
river was there." More
> like the run-on descriptions that pepper SUN. If you
read SUN, it really
> conjures up the idea of someone from that book
slumming it in Baja.
>>
>> The is the best of the three Saxon books I've
read so far, and the
>> darkest
> book by Roberts I've read to date. (Mind you, there
are some later
> Jacovich's I haven't gotten to.)
>>
>> Jim Winter
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~-->
<font face=arial size=-1><a href="
http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h57k6qt/M=362335.6886444.7839734.2575449/D=groups/S=1705020068:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1122883148/A=2894362/R=0/SIG=138c78jl6/*http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/arts_culture/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=GRP&RTP=http://groups.yahoo.com/">What
would our lives be like without music, dance, and
theater?Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for
Good</a>.</font>
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 01 Aug 2005 EDT