Toby Peters mysteries
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1.
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The first in a mystery series set in 1940s Hollywood, where a hard-boiled private eye helps a cast of real-life stars: "Nostalgic fun" ( Publishers Weekly ). Hollywood, 1940: It's been four years since security guard Toby Peters got fired from the Warner Brothers lot for breaking a screen cowboy's arm. Since then he's scratched out a living as a private detective—missing persons and bodyguard work mostly—but now his old friends, the...
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In this "marvelously entertaining" mystery, a hard-boiled Hollywood private eye investigates a murdered Munchkin on the set of The Wizard of Oz (Newsday). A year after The Wizard of Oz's smash success, the yellow brick road is crumbling. The famous sets have been left standing on a soundstage in the depths of the MGM back lot in case the studio greenlights a sequel. But that doesn't explain what Judy Garland is doing there-or why she finds a Munchkin...
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As a hard-boiled Hollywood PI enlists Al Capone's help to save the Marx Brothers, Kaminsky "makes the totally wacky possible" (The Washington Post). It's 1941 and the Marx Brothers' first movie for MGM, Go West, has the country in stitches. But now Chico Marx is worried he's going to need stitches when he receives a severed ear in the mail-a simple message from a Chicago bookie who wants $120,000, or else. Chico is baffled because, although he...
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On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Howard Hughes hires Hollywood gumshoe Toby Peters to find stolen blueprints in the "marvelously entertaining" series ( Newsday ). Millionaire Howard Hughes likes his secrets. He likes to keep them—and he definitely doesn't like having them stolen. Hollywood PI Toby Peters has a rep for being discreet. So when the film tycoon and aviation magnate needs a detective to very privately investigate the theft of top-secret...
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5.
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The stakes are life and death when Bela Lugosi is threatened in this "affectionate parody of the hard-boiled private-eye" genre ( The New York Times ). 1942: In the basement of a crumbling Los Angeles movie palace, five vampires crowd around Bela Lugosi. They should not frighten the fading horror icon, who found worldwide fame as Dracula, for these are only wannabes—diehard fans who get their kicks dressing up as bloodsuckers. But Lugosi...
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6.
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A forties Hollywood PI does not forsake Gary Cooper: "Like all of Toby [Peters's] adventures, High Midnight is high entertainment" ( The Cincinnati Post ). When laconic leading man Gary Cooper needs a detective, he does the smart thing and hires Toby Peters, sleuth to the stars. But the man he finds in Peters's office isn't the famously discreet private eye—it's the dentist who shares his office, who's always had a fantasy of playing gumshoe,...
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7.
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A hard-boiled Hollywood PI has to work without a net to save Emmett Kelly from a killer who's not clowning around: "Nostalgic fun" ( Publishers Weekly ). In February 1942, Californians may be living in fear of a Japanese attack, but the show must go on. The circus is in town—unfortunately so is a killer saboteur who's targeting the star attractions. Private detective Toby Peters is no stranger to going undercover, but this is the first time...
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8.
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Goodness has nothing to do with it as a hard-luck private eye in 1940s Hollywood takes a case for legendary silver screen sex symbol Mae West. In the early days of talking pictures, the greatest sex symbol in Hollywood was the platinum-blonde bad girl Mae West. Naughty and gorgeous with a razor-sharp wit, West wrote her own material and controlled her own image—until the censors came in and outlawed the racy repartee that made her famous....
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9.
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With "shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett," a 1940s Los Angeles private eye must recover FDR's kidnapped dog ( The San Diego Union-Tribune ). Working in Hollywood, private eye Toby Peters has met a lot of phonies. But his newest case concerns a four-legged faker who threatens the fate of the free world. A few classy dames have crossed the detective's doorstep, but none can touch the hem of the dress of the First Lady herself, Eleanor...
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10.
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In this "lively noir mystery," a 1940s Hollywood private eye tries to clear heavyweight champ Joe Louis and corner a killer ( Library Journal ). Joe Louis may be the heavyweight champ of the world, but private detective Toby Peters is pretty sure he's not a cold-blooded killer. Pretty sure, because Peters has just found the boxer standing over a man on the beach who's clearly been beaten to death. Louis claims he was just out for a run, but it...
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11.
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Someone's gunning for John Wayne in this "well-plotted" mystery set in 1940s Hollywood featuring a wisecracking private eye ( Publishers Weekly ). Something about Lewis Vance's story doesn't add up. The guy claims to be John Wayne's stand-in, and he's called Det. Toby Peters about a possible job involving the star. But when Peters meets him in a seedy hotel room, Vance slips him a mickey. After Peters comes to, his head pounding, he sees the real...
12. Smart Moves
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12.
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It doesn't take a genius to see Albert Einstein's life is in danger, but it will take a hard-headed Hollywood PI to save him. It's all relative. It's April 1942, the world is at war, and LA private detective Toby Peters has been summoned to Princeton, New Jersey, to deal with a situation of the utmost gravity—the world's greatest physicist is being threatened. Blackmailers claim to have evidence that Albert Einstein has been passing nuclear...
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13.
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In a fun series with "shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett," a 1940s PI must find out who's gunning for Peter Lorre ( The San Diego Union-Tribune ). Scaly-voiced and bug-eyed actor Peter Lorre has become one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, especially after appearing in the Sam Spade crime drama, The Maltese Falcon , last year. Yet Hollywood PI Toby Peters still has to contend with his landlady believing the star of Think...
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14.
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Gen. Douglas MacArthur enlists the help of a discreet private detective in "one of the sprightliest of the [Toby Peters] series" ( Time ). It's September 1942, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur believes he's got what it takes to win the war in the Pacific—but he's got a personal problem to take care of first. An aide has run off with his war chest, his donor list, and a handful of embarrassing private letters: a haul that would make the general...
15. Poor Butterfly
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15.
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A 1940s Hollywood gumshoe heads to San Francisco to foil a very real phantom of the opera in this "believable and entertaining" mystery ( Publishers Weekly ). 1942 is a dangerous year to stage Madama Butterfly . Although Puccini's masterpiece is a perennial favorite of the San Francisco opera crowd, its sympathetic depiction of a Japanese girl causes tension a year after Pearl Harbor. Newspaper editorialists rage against the production, opera...
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16.
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Time is running out for surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and a 1940s Hollywood PI: "Fast-paced, well-plotted, consistently funny" ( The Philadelphia Inquirer ). Talk about surreal! An ax-wielding monk hacks at a door, while on the other side private detective Toby Peters is running as fast as his recently broken leg will allow, alongside Salvador Dalí, dressed in a rabbit suit, repeatedly muttering "grasshoppers" as they try to make...
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17.
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Hired as a bodyguard for diva Bette Davis, this wisecracking Hollywood PI better fasten his seat belt, it's going to be a bumpy night. Bette Davis has three words to describe her hotel hideaway: "What a dump!" After two days locked in a rented room with the acid-tongued actress, private eye Toby Peters is starting to feel like he's her husband—instead of Arthur Farnsworth—and he wants a divorce. The diva's real hubby—an...
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18.
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Frankly, a killer doesn't give a damn about offing Clark Gable—or Toby Peters—in this "fast-paced and colorful addition to a very successful series" ( Publishers Weekly ). On December 10, 1938, Atlanta burned again. In the back lot at David O. Selznick's studio, sets from a dozen old pictures were pushed together and set ablaze to provide a backdrop for the climax of what Selznick promised to be the movie of the century: Gone with...
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19.
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A PI performs some fancy footwork to protect Fred Astaire as "Edgar winner Kaminsky effortlessly choreographs Hollywood history . . . and dirty doings" ( Publishers Weekly ). Sometimes fools must step in where Fred Astaire fears to tap. Luna Martin, the moll of a well-known Los Angeles gangster nicknamed "Fingers" (because he likes to cut them off), has demanded dance lessons from Hollywood's finest hoofer—and whatever Luna wants, Luna...
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20.
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This "enjoyable lark" is a road-trip mystery with an old Hollywood backdrop, starring PI Toby Peters and the great comic W. C. Fields ( Library Journal ). Under names like Otis J. Raisincluster, Quigley E. Sneersight, and Cormorant Beecham III, W. C. Fields squirreled away nearly a million dollars in banks across the country during his vaudeville days—before he became one of the silver screen's most recognizable funnymen. But it's no laughing...
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21.
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PI Toby Peters comes to the aid of Charlie Chaplin when the Little Tramp becomes a big target in this "ingenious" mystery from the Edgar Award winner ( Kirkus Reviews ). In 1943, Charlie Chaplin is far from the most popular man in America. His communist sympathies and romantic indiscretions with young women have enraged everyone from right-wing radicals and the Ku Klux Klan to furious fathers. But when a knife-wielding intruder breaks into...
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22.
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"Edgar winner Kaminsky offers plenty of nostalgic fun" as Hollywood PI Toby Peters teams up with Cary Grant in this World War II–era spy romp ( Publishers Weekly ). Since the start of World War II, Cary Grant has been working undercover in Hollywood as a spy for the British crown. When a ring of Nazi sympathizers gets wise, they start blackmailing the debonair leading man. Now Grant has hired Toby Peters to handle the payoff. But when the...
23. Mildred Pierced
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23.
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"A page-turning romp" from the Edgar Award–winning author featuring a nutty dentist, a killer crossbow, and Joan Crawford in 1940s Hollywood ( Booklist , starred review). Mildred Minck is an unremarkable woman—until one tragic night in June 1944 when she becomes the first citizen of Los Angeles to be murdered by crossbow. The prime suspect is her husband, dentist Sheldon Minck, who's found standing over her body with the weapon in...
24. Now You See It
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24.
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The final Toby Peters Hollywood whodunit from the Edgar Award–winning author is "a marvelous magic trick of a mystery" featuring Harry Blackstone ( Booklist , starred review). When an anonymous rival demands that master illusionist Harry Blackstone reveal his secrets on stage or die, the magician hires Toby Peters and his brother, ex-cop Phil Pevsner, to run security for his show at the famous Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Of course, Peters...