Gray & Company, Publishers

In the midst of one of late twentieth century America's worst recessions, Ed Podolak, an unemployed worker from western Pennsylvania, winds up in Cleveland looking for a job. It's Christmas Eve, and all he has to his name is forty-eight bucks—and that isn't nearly enough to buy Christmas presents for his wife and his kids. On impulse, he steals a wad of cash from the kettle of a downtown street-corner Santa. He thinks he's gotten away with it—until he realizes he's been observed by a bright-eyed six-year-old boy.

About Les Roberts

Les Roberts is the author of 16 mystery novels featuring Cleveland detective Milan Jacovich, as well as 11 other books. The past president of both the Private Eye Writers of America and the American Crime Writer's League, he came to mystery writing after a 24-year career in Hollywood. He was the first producer and head writer of the Hollywood Squares and wrote for The Andy Griffith Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others. He has been a professional actor, a singer, a jazz musician, a teacher, and a film critic. In 2003 he received the Sherwood Anderson Literary Award. A native of Chicago, he now lives in Northeast Ohio. More About Les Roberts