Nice to return to a solidly written story, after another bout with a current author that was left alone by a good editor. Kaminsky does move this one very, very fast. The plot is very good, the mystery great and the characters very well done. As usual, Kaminsky nails the dialogue of the separate characters. Also, if you are a nostalgia nut like me, you'll love the appearances of the well-known during this 1940s setting. To some, I'm guessing, this all appears way too old fashioned. Cynics of this day might say it isn't realistic to what was really happening at the time, as if they knew what was realistic at the time (We sure have a weird view of "realism" today). These Toby Peters novels are just very good mysteries that are also much fun to read. With the 500 page tombs drowning in excess being produced today, I think some have forgotten what a good book is.
1979, #4 Toby Peters, PI to the stars, 1941 Hollywood; classic PI, satirical. Hired to find secret plans that have been stolen from Hughes, Toby gets himself mixed up with spies, murderers, translators, nasty Nazis and inscrutable Japanese, but manages to wend his way through the dead bodies - and the plot - with his usual tongue-in-cheek panache. Toby has an energizer bunny charm that’s a lot of fun, even as he continually gets himself beaten up again and again, and keeps on going. But underneath the satire and the pulp there’s nice characterizations that resonate, and the celebrity bits are fun. This one has Basil Rathbone and a few nice Holmesian touches in addition to a coldly edgy Hughes.
Do You like book The Howard Hughes Affair (2005)?
This is the fourth in the Toby Peters mystery series, set in 1940's Hollywood; the first book is "Bullet for a star". In this novel, Peters is hired by Howard Hughes, who claims that secret plans in his study were copied during a recent dinner party - either by a guest or a member of his staff. This is a fun read, with cameo appearances by Basil Rathbone and Bertold Brecht, gangsters, suspicious German suspects and Peters usual ability to get beaten up on a regular basis. The book ends with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and a phone call from Boris Karloff leading to the next mystery.
—Susan
