kayuucee@cvl.UUCP (Kenneth W. Crist Jr.) (10/17/85)
My favorite detective is Stuart Kaminsky's Toby Peters. Kaminsky seems to be in his element writing about Peters, a private investigator in early 1940's Hollywood. Mr. Kaminsky is an associate professor in the Dept. of Radio, Television and Film at Northwestern University and has written books on film history including "John Huston: Maker of Magic" and "American Film Genres". Around the Washington, D.C. area these books seem to be hard to find as most book stores don't carry them. Part of the problem might be that at least two different printing companies have printed different books in the series. But, if you can find them, get them. They are a very good read. Peters is not your typical private eye. He is in his mid-forties, has a bad back, is lousy with a gun and even he admits he is not very smart. About the only things he has going for him is that he is honest, loyal and too stubborn to give up. So far, these three things have gotten him through nine books, going on ten. What is so special about this series? Toby's clients. Within these books are a Who's Who from Hollywood in its heyday. From Jack Warner and Louis B. Meyer to Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. Mr. Kaminsky makes these well known personialities come to life as Toby's is falling apart around him. The first book, "Bullet for a Star", sets the mood for the rest of the series. (This book was just recently released in paperback form, which is strange when you consider that the second of the series was published in paperback in 1979). We meet Toby, former cop, former Warner Brothers security guard (he was fired by Jack Warner himself) and now very bad p.i. At least until an old friend of his at Warner's calls him for help. Errol Flynn is being blackmailed and the studio wants to keep it quiet. Toby is hired to deliver the blackmail money and receive the incriminating photograph and negative. At the pick up, Toby is knocked unconscious and wakes up next to the dead body of the blackmailer. Of course, the money, photo, negative and his gun are all missing. What follows is a rousing story of murder and movie making as Toby tries to clear himself and catch the person who set him up. He gets help from Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart, a few short weeks before "The Maltese Falcon" begins its filming, Bruce Cabot -- the man who saved Fay Wray from King Kong and many others. Not everyone Toby meets is helpful though. There is Homicide Lieutenant Phil Pevsner who when not trying to arrests Peters for murder, is trying to kill Toby himself. Phil is Toby's brother (Toby's real name is Tobias Leo Pevsner) and has succeeded in breaking Toby's nose twice. There is also Sheldon Minck a dentist who sublets one of his dental rooms as as office. While Sheldon is not out to kill Toby, he doesn't make Toby's life any easier. Toby eventually comes out on top (not until he is shot once and a couple more corpses show up in his possession) and is even offered his old job at Warner's back. He just finishes declining when he gets a phone call. It's Judy Garland at M.G.M. She has just found a munchkin stabbed on the yellow brick road and Toby's name was given to her by Errol Flynn. The book ends with Toby racing off to help another of Hollywood's famous denizens. The rest of the books in the story are similar. Dead bodies keep popping up to make Toby's life miserable, we meet more and more screen giants and right after the current case is solved, Toby is summoned on to another. It is my hope that he never stops getting these pleas for help. Each book seems to be better than the last. The series includes: Bullet for a Star Blackmailing of Errol Flynn Murder on the Yellow Brick Road Murder and pornography in Oz You Bet Your Life The Marx Brothers and the Mafia The Howard Hughes Affair H.H. and espionage just before WWII Never Cross a Vampire Death threats for Bela Lugosi High Midnight Gary Cooper in his last western Catch a Falling Clown Emmett Kelley, A. Hitchcock and the circus He Done Her Wrong Phil Pevsner and Mae West as lovers? The Fala Factor FDR's dog kidnapped "The Fala Factor" is out in hardback but has not been released in paperback form. The only other one I have not seen in paperback is "The Howard Hughes Affair". The bright spot is that most of them are in public libraries if you can't find them in local bookstores. Kenneth Crist kayuucee@cvl