Books with author Lane Roberts

Milan Jacovich, Cleveland's private eye extraordinaire, gets the usual PI's run of cases -- checking on insurance claims, looking for missing persons, validating a job applicant's credentials. But now and again, along comes the unusual case -- one that is really out of Milan's sphere, but which he takes on from a sense of justice, for personal reasons, and even if the client can't afford to pay. There's nothing pro bono about Milan's current case. His client is a woman of status and wealth. But it is definitely on the personal side. It seems that Judge Maureen Hartigan has a serious problem that she wants to kept quiet. And since her daughter Cathleen and Milan have had an off-again-on-again friendship, which only teeters on the edge of something more, she asks Cathleen to call him. Judge Hartigan, a woman of impeccable reputation, has unwittingly given refuge to a scam artist. Through her, Cathleen had become involved with the man, and all because Cathleen's cousin Hugh had been a sucker. It happened in a familiar way: The man came into an Irish bar, made a beeline for Hugh, who was drinking alone and a little in his cups, told him that he was just off the plane from Ireland, and that his luggage, containing not only his clothes but his passport and wallet, was lost; he had no clean clothes, no money, no identification, no credit cards. Could Hugh help him until the luggage was found? A fellow Irishman, thought Hugh, even to one a couple of generations removed from the Auld Sod? Sure. Judge Hartigan didn't expect to recover the money this "Brian McFall" had stolen. She wanted revenge. It was Milan's job to find the man. Then he was saved the trouble when McFall turned up shot to death. The missing-person case became a homicide, one that Lieutenant McHargue, Milan's nemesis, warned him to keep out of. Milan didn't heed the warning.. He wanted to finish what he started, he wanted to help Cathleen and her mother. What he did not want was to become the target of a killer. But in Milan's business, you can't have everything, now can you? Readers, however, will get what they want: an engaging, thrill-packed story with a number of characters they would like to meet -- and a few they wouldn't.

Goodbye Seattle.Goodbye baseball buddies.Goodbye Gram & her cool puppet shows.Hello, Texas.Baker is sure there isn't anything worse than moving. Except being THE NEW KID. Sure, Gram gave him Waldo, a ventriloquist's dummy, for company-- but a puppet, no matter how funny it is, can't take the place of real friends. Baker is bummed.Until he starts school and discovers that kids in Texas (cowboy hats aside) aren't as different as he thought. And that puppets just might be the key to fitting in. Let the show begin!From the Hardcover edition.

When his parents surprise Jason with a family vacation to California, he is totally excited. Not only will he get to fly, he’ll have a chance to try out for Masquerade Mania! That’s before he learns that they will be camping cross-country in a sardine can (at least that’s what the contraption looks like). Jason’s willing to do just about anything to get a chance to be on Mania. But isn’t wearing pink underwear, enduring the stares of fellow campers, and putting up with his pain-in-the-neck sister above and beyond the call of duty?From the Trade Paperback edition.

Goodbye Seattle.Goodbye baseball buddies.Goodbye Gram & her cool puppet shows.Hello, Texas.Baker is sure there isn't anything worse than moving. Except being THE NEW KID. Sure, Gram gave him Waldo, a ventriloquist's dummy, for company-- but a puppet, no matter how funny it is, can't take the place of real friends. Baker is bummed.Until he starts school and discovers that kids in Texas (cowboy hats aside) aren't as different as he thought. And that puppets just might be the key to fitting in. Let the show begin!From the Hardcover edition.