New Releases by Stuart M. Kaminsky

“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 hand, raving that only Joan Crawford can identify the killer. It seems like a natural insanity defense, but Sheldon wants his neighbor, private investigator Toby Peters, to prove his innocence. The dentist is telling the truth about one thing: Joan Crawford was there. The steely silver screen beauty is in the middle of a comeback, about to star in a film noir based on a James M. Cain novel, and insists Peters keep her name out of the papers. In exchange, the glamorous eyewitness points the sleuth toward the Survivors of the Future, a band of crackpot survivalists that the dentist was hoping to join. Sheldon’s new friends want him sprung, but only because they want him dead . . . With its “irresistible” title, Edgar Award winner Stuart M. Kaminsky’s penultimate Toby Peters mystery shines a spotlight on the legendary screen diva as well as one of the favorite supporting characters of the series (The Washington Post).

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 the Wind. Toby Peters, then just a studio security guard, was on hand to help keep the Confederate extras in line. When the fire was over, he found one of them dead, impaled on his own sword. Five years later, Peters scratches out a living as a private detective for Hollywood’s best known stars. Now it’s Clark Gable who needs his help. He’s been getting death threats. On the back of a cryptic poem, the sleuth finds a list of people on scene the night the extra died. Two are already dead, and the rest are next. Sure enough, one of those marked for death is Gable. The other is Toby Peters . . . “Nostalgic readers with a yen for the good old days . . . will find Kaminsky’s story entertaining, clever, eminently readable, and chock-full of snippets from Hollywood’s Golden Age.” —Booklist

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, and happily agrees to take care of Cooper’s blackmail problem. Impersonating Peters, the dentist bungles the case disastrously, and setting it right will be like pulling teeth. Cooper is in trouble with a Chicago gangster named Lombardi, who’s come to Los Angeles intending to set himself up as the cold cuts king of California. Thanks to the dentist’s meddling, he wants the actor dead. When Cooper hightails it with his old drinking buddy Ernest Hemingway, it’s up to Peters to avoid a showdown. High Midnight shows once again how Edgar Award winner Stuart M. Kaminsky “has a delightfully original mind enriching—rather than just borrowing from—an old literary form” (Los Angeles Times).

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 is terrified, because he knows that one of these crackpots has been making threats against his life. Their fangs may be plastic, but their lethal intentions are all too real. For protection, Lugosi hires Hollywood private eye Toby Peters, who’s splitting his time between this case and a job for his old employers: the Warner brothers. A Hollywood murder has been linked to one of the studio’s star screenwriters: the brilliant novelist and violent drunk, William Faulkner. To his horror, Peters finds a connection between the two cases. To get Faulkner off the hook, he’ll have to find out who wants to close the coffin lid on Dracula. With “shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett” Edgar Award–winning author Stuart Kaminsky’s 1940s Hollywood PI is once again cracking wise and saving celebrities from psychos (The San Diego Union-Tribune).

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 secrets to Russia, and Nazi assassins want to do away with one of the most famous opponents of Hitler’s rule. Sounds like a formula for disaster. Peters is used to dealing with Hollywood’s elite—not exactly a brain trust—but the East Coast is a new beat for him. Soon he’s swept up in some serious Manhattan mayhem, trying to keep Einstein from harm but also trying to stay alive himself. Incorporating cameos from Paul Robeson and Frank Sinatra, Edgar Award–winning author Stuart M. Kaminsky “has such a good time writing, and he so loves the period, that the reader is swept along willy-nilly” (TheNew York Times Book Review).

“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 blackmailer is killed, the rumpled detective and the suave movie star are thrust into a complex plot of murder, money, and Nazi spies, leading to a literal cliffhanger . . . “For anyone with a taste for old Hollywood B-movie mysteries, Edgar winner Kaminsky offers plenty of nostalgic fun in his 22nd book to feature good-natured, unprepossessing sleuth Toby Peters . . . Toby and the acrobatic Grant at his lithe best make an appealing team. The tone is light, the pace brisk, the tongue firmly in cheek.” —Publishers Weekly

In a fun series with “shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett,” a 1940s PI must find out who’s gunning for Peter Lorre (TheSan 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 Fast, Mr. Moto, is Japanese. Whether playing an Asian detective or a weaselly villain, one role Lorre will probably never get is romantic lead—except apparently in real life. Because the distraught dentist who shares offices with Peters insists his wife has run off with Peter Lorre and begs the detective to find her. As it turns out, the boyfriend in question is a Peter Lorre impersonator—perhaps an even more bizarre romantic choice. But by the time Peters finds him, the mimic is doing a terrific imitation of a corpse. The bullet was meant for the real Lorre, who has just become the gumshoe’s client—whether he likes it or not. “If you like your mysteries Sam Spade tough, with tongue-in-cheek and a touch of the theatrical, then the Toby Peters series is just your ticket.” —Houston Chronicle

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 in full costume, lying facedown with a knife buried in his back. To avoid even a whiff of scandal and protect Judy’s wholesome image, the studio boss hires Toby Peters, a Hollywood private detective with a reputation for discretion. But as Peters quickly learns, the real threat to Miss Garland isn’t the tabloids—it’s the psychopathic killer who stalks the back lot and plans to kill the young actress next. In addition to the murder mystery swirling around Judy Garland, the second Toby Peters novel features cameos from “Clark Gable and Raymond Chandler [who] give an assist in this imaginative mystery recreated from yesterday’s movie-land” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).

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 their escape. It all started when Dalí hired a gang of burglars to steal three of his own paintings—a publicity stunt that spiraled out of control when the thieves refused to give the missing masterpieces back. Dalí hired Peters to find the artwork, but now it seems the pair may have painted themselves into a corner. “The flamboyant prankster-artist [Dalí] holds his own among the hero’s circle of zany friends in Mr. Kaminsky’s Technicolor fantasy of 1940’s Hollywood.” —The New York Times “Once again Kaminsky mixes the real—in this case the surreal—with the fictional for a quick-paced, clever revisionist Hollywood romp.” —Publishers Weekly

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 aeronautics engineer with a head full of government secrets and a gang of blackmailers on his trail—has hired Peters to keep Bette safe from kidnappers. But when thugs burst through the hotel room door, it’s almost a relief. Almost . . . Because Peters still has a job to do. And to rescue the snatched star, he needs to crack a Nazi spy ring while at the same time keeping a bit of indiscreet evidence involving Bette and Howard Hughes from falling into the wrong hands . . . “For anyone with a taste for old Hollywood B-movie mysteries, Edgar winner [Stuart M.] Kaminsky offers plenty of nostalgic fun” in the Toby Peters mysteries. “The tone is light, the pace brisk, the tongue firmly in cheek” (Publishers Weekly).

Abe Lieberman: a strong, sympathetic Chicago cop. His love for his family is matched by his quiet, zealous commitment to do what is right. Sometimes he''s faced with some uncomfortable ethical choices in order to see that justice—rather than the letter of the law—is meted out. Lou Fonesca: a world-weary guy who got in a car and just started driving after his wife died and wound up in front of a Dairy Queen in Sarasota. He now makes his way amid bail jumpers and lost wives, solving the little cases and trying to get by. What do these two men have in common? They are both created by one of America''s best loved mystery authors, Stuart Kaminsky. Putting two of his most beloved series into one volume gives readers an introduction into Kaminsky''s world. Not Quite Kosher and Bright Futures and are two full length novels that Kaminsky fans will cheer at. Double Shot introduces new readers to a national treasure in the mystery field. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A new Inspector Rostnikov title from America''s premier mystery writer, "A Whisper to the Living" continues the adventures of an honest policeman in a very dishonest post-Soviet Union.

When it comes to sex, lies often follow... and in the dark heart of the city, death can be the ultimate payback! Moonstone Books, publisher of fine books and comics since 1995, is proud to present this landmark collection of all-new, original noir stories with the theme of ''sex for sale''. Written by some of today''s top crime writers, Sex, Lies and Private Eyes features a stunning cast of legendary characters from the best mysteries of the past and present, including Alo Nudger and Fred Carver (John Lutz), Blackshirt (Adi Tantimedh), Candy Matson (Christine Matthews), Domino Lady (Gail Mcabee), Jack Hagee, PI, Kolchak: the Night Stalker and Lai Wan (CJ Henderson), The Envoy (Gary Phillips), Johnny Dollar (David Tischman), Mr. Keen (Mike Bullock), Pat Novak (Steven Grant), Sherlock Holmes (Loren D. Estleman), The Silencers (Fred Van Vliet), The Maze Agency (Mike W. Barr), Toby Peters (Stuart Kaminsky), and Truxton Lewis (Robert Randisi).

Lovable everyman Lew Fonesca, the Man Who Makes Things Work in Sarasota, is once again faced with cases that try his patience and test his sanity. A local curmudgeon who has been campaigning to end state-sponsored school funding is brutally killed. A recent graduate of a public high school for the gifted is arrested for the crime and turns to Lew for help. A semi-retired and much beloved singer of children''s songs is being anonymously pushed to leave Sarasota, threatened with exposure as a sexual predator. It is up to Lew to uncover the blackmailer and determine whether there is any truth to the accusation. Lew has decided that life is worth more than just going through the motions. But will the good life that Lew so richly deserves elude him as he uncovers some very sad truths? His final choice--do the right thing and see his happiness evaporate... or betray a trust and stay happy... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

After a very long absence, Forge is delighted to be bringing back one of Edgar award winning Stuart Kaminsky''s best loved characters, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov. Rostnikov is a Russian bear of a man, an honest policeman in a very dishonest post-Soviet Union Russia. Known as "The Washtub," Rostnikov is one of the most engaging and relevant characters in crime fiction, a sharp and caring policeman as well as the perfect tour guide to a changing (that is, disintegrating) Russia. Surviving pogroms and politburos, he has solved crimes, mostly in spite of the powers that be that rule his world. In People Who Walk in Darkness, Rostnikov travels to Siberia to investigate a murder at a diamond mine, where he discovers an old secret...and an even older personal problem. His compatriots head to Kiev on a trail of smuggled diamonds and kidnapped guest workers...and what they discover leads them to a vast conspiracy that not only has international repercussions but threatens them on a very personal level. People Who Walk in Darkness is a fast-paced novel of modern Russia told by one of mystery''s finest storytellers. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"The Dead Don''t Lie" is the latest in Edgar Award winner and MWA''s Grand Master Stuart Kaminsky''s Abe Lieberman mystery series. Lieberman and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, are hell or heaven bent on making the mean streets of Chicago just a little safer. As usual they have their hands full. Three prominent members of the Turkish community are all brutally murdered and Lieberman must find out what, if anything, ties these murders together. It doesn''t help that the key to the puzzle might be an event that took place over a century ago. Bill Hanrahan finds himself assigned to a case where a hospitalized chef claims to have been beaten by two people and shot by a third, a bespectacled Chinese man. As Bill digs deeper he finds himself at odds with an old nemesis, a man who has an unusual affinity for Bill''s wife. Both Lieberman and Hanrahan struggle to do the right thing even if it means bending the letter, not the spirit, of the law.

"The Edgar Prize-winning author Kaminsky tells the tale of one of literature''s most famous detectives: Sherlock Holmes. In a witty, imaginative story filled with twists and unexpected surprises, Detective Holmes unravels a murder only to find himself the unwilling target of the killer-at-large. Along with the aid of his loyal and inquisitive companion, Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes uses his masterful power of deduction to make a nebulous situation seem "simply elementary." The Final Toast is an exciting new take on the classic characters of fiction we know and love, and its ending will please even the most savvy mystery connoisseurs"--Publisher''s website.

Four years ago Lew Fonesca''s wife was struck and killed in a hit-and-run within sight of their apartment. He fled Chicago, driving mindlessly until his car gave up the ghost in Sarasota, FL. Working from a cheap office behind the Dairy Queen on Highway 301, he makes a threadbare living as a process server and savors his clinical depression like a fine wine. Life''s a sneaky mistress, though, and has a way of suckering you into caring. Lew''s found that he''s really good at helping people get out of bad situations. That he matters. And Lew''s therapist, who alternately acts as his conscience and his sparring partner, tells him that unless he''s willing to leave the planet, it''s about time that he goes back to Chicago and closes the door to the past so that he can finally get on with the rest of his life. Lew hates to admit it, but he''s beginning to see her point. So Lew returns to his home town, to friends and family...and to a grief that threatens to engulf him. He''s resolved to dig until he finds out who killed his wife. In doing so, he''ll uncover both sweet and painful memories of his past. He''ll also confront a murderer who''ll not hesitate to kill again to make sure hidden secrets stay buried. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Carl Zwick is an aging Chicago Cubs baseball player. Sometimes he feels like he''s spent his life hitting into double plays, but he''s finally gotten onto the right track. Then tragedy strikes him out. Anita Mills is a pretty single black mother just trying to get by. A random act of brutality in one of Chicago''s rougher neighborhoods permanently ends her struggle. Richard Allen Smith walks the streets of ChiTown saying God has sent him. He has an unusual, rather nasty way of getting converts to see the light. What do these people have in common? Nothing, it would seem, except they are all part of Detective Abe Lieberman''s very long day. Lieberman, a sad, baggy-eyed spaniel of a man with the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon is trying his best to make his beloved Chicago a better place. But when Lieberman and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, encounter these three very different situations they are find that there are ties that bind and ties that can cut a man''s heart out. Abe Lieberman faces a Gordian knot that he must somehow untangle—and if he makes a mistake, someone very near to him could die. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

PI and process-server Lew Fonesca returns in a “nail-biting missing-persons case” from the Edgar Award–winning author of Vengeance (Booklist). Stuart M. Kaminsky, the veteran author of more than forty novels and the creator of such wonderful characters as Abe Lieberman, Toby Peters, and Inspector Rostnikov, has created a new PI: Lew Fonesca, a world-weary guy who got in a car and just started driving after his wife died and wound up in front of a Dairy Queen in Sarasota, Florida. He now makes his way amid bail jumpers and lost wives, people who want to be found and those who will do anything to stay under their rock. He spends his days solving cases both big and small and trying to get by, while attempting to figure out how to make the rest of his life make sense. Retribution not only picks up where the first novel in the series, Vengeance, left off, but raises the bar big-time. Lew has solved his share of cases, and most of them—to his pride—have wound up having happy endings; in Vengeance, he saved a young runaway who has had a childhood nobody should ever have, and she finally seems to be turning her life around. But when she becomes involved with a reclusive bestselling author and several valuable manuscripts disappear, Lew knows that young Melanie is in way over her head. And if he doesn’t act fast, not only could a few reputations get tarnished—the bodies might start piling up.

" Je m''appelle Lew Fonesca. Je vis à Sarasota, en Floride, où je suis arrivé voilà un peu plus de trois ans, après que ma femme eut succombé à un " accident " de voiture avec délit de fuite. " Accident " est entre guillemets, car la police n''a pas retrouvé le chauffard.... Une fois toutes les larmes de mon corps versées, j''ai repris le volant de ma Toyota modèle 1989 sur le parking du cimetière et j''ai roulé. Cap au sud, direction l''oubli et la pointe de la Floride... Mon véhicule a rendu l''âme sur le parking du Dairy Queen à Sarasota... " A Sarasota, la Midnight Pass est un enjeu financier et immobilier majeur, particulièrement pour les propriétaires sur les Keys. Alors que le conseil du comté doit trancher d''une manière décisive sur l''éventuelle réouverture de cette passe, un de ses membres disparaît mystérieusement. Lew Fonesca, fort de sa réputation de retrouver les disparus, est démarché par le révérend Wilkens. Parce qu''il faut se forcer à vivre malgré tout, - c''est en tout cas le conseil de sa psy, il accepte de se charger de remettre la main sur lui. De retour à son bureau, il tombe sur un individu qui le supplie de rechercher sa femme et ses enfants qui se sont évaporés dans la nature. Pour quelqu''un qui évite le plus possible les contacts avec ses contemporains, notre anti-héros dépressif frise la surcharge de travail ! Fonesca va devoir résoudre ces deux affaires avec l''aide de son fidèle ami Ames et de la douce Sally. Quand les cadavres et les tentatives de meurtre contre sa personne se multiplient, Fonesca se dit qu''encore une fois, il est dedans jusqu''au cou.

The second original novel based on the hit CBS series. A family is murdered inside their home in a quiet neighborhood in Queens. In Brooklyn, an Orthodox Jew is found dead in his synagogue. Two different crimes with one commonality: CSI investigators who won''t give up. Original.

Le corps d''un homme est retrouvé dans l''ascenseur d''un immeuble du quartier bourgeois de l''Upper East Side, à Manhattan. Mac Taylor et Aiden Burn sont chargés de l''enquête. Mais le meurtrier n''a laissé ni arme du crime, ni trace ADN derrière lui. Serait-ce un crime parfait ? Pendant ce temps, à quelques encablures de là, Stella Bonasera et Danny Messer enquêtent sur le meurtre d''un témoin, une femme théoriquement sous protection de la police. Les hommes censés la protéger assurent que la victime a passé la nuit dans une chambre d''hôtel fermée à double tour... Comment le meurtrier s''y est-il pris ? Au plus profond de l''hiver, l''équipe du CSI de New York est chargée de réunir toutes les preuves possibles pour résoudre deux crimes mystérieux commis au cœur de New York, la ville qui ne dort jamais.

A thrilling original novel based on the television series CSI: New York! Detective Mac Taylor is a dedicated and driven crime-scene investigator who believes that everything is connected and everyone has a story. He and his partner, Detective Stella Bonasera, lead a team of experts through the gritty and kinetic world of New York City. These skilled investigators, who see New York in a unique light, follow the evidence as they piece together clues and eliminate doubt to ultimately crack their cases. The body of a middle-aged man is found in the elevator of a ritzy doorman building on the Upper East Side. Mac Taylor and Aiden Burn''s initial investigation yields no bullets, no DNA evidence, and no motive. Could this be the perfect crime? Meanwhile, only a few blocks away, Stella Bonasera and Danny Messer investigate the murder of a witness being held in protective custody. The law enforcement officers on duty swear that the victim spent the night in a locked hotel room—only to be found dead in the morning. From the heart of midtown to the outer boroughs, the New York CSI team must piece together the evidence and solve two puzzling crimes in the city that never sleeps.

A Florida process server trying to pick up the pieces of his life looks into a hit-and-run mystery in this “compelling” crime novel by the Edgar Award winner (Kirkus Reviews). Lew Fonesca is a man who does things for people. He makes small problems go away and tries to keep the larger ones from landing his clients in jail. He finds deadbeats and errant spouses, and generally keeps the populace of Sarasota on the up and up. Now Lew is faced with one case that will try his patience . . . and another that may break his heart. The first involves an elderly woman who swears she’s witnessed a murder in her old age home despite the fact that everyone she tells her story to—her family, the hospital staff, and finally the cops—tell her that it just couldn’t have happened. The other has Lew trying to identify a hit-and-run driver who killed a fourteen-year-old boy, and dredges up some very painful memories. As Lew begins to dig deeper into both cases he finds that they’re tied together in ways he can’t hope to untangle. And when someone tries to run him down, he knows he’s getting close to some nasty home truths . . . Praise for the Lew Fonesca series “A psychologically acute and fast-moving crime series.” —Booklist “Kaminsky is such a pro that the pages fly by, and even though Lew is often such a sad sack, it’s hard not to root for him.” —Chicago Tribune “Grabs readers and takes them on a memorably tumultuous ride.” —Publishers Weekly

Stuart Kaminsky takes the readers into the personal lives and homes of well-known contemporary mystery writers.

Abe Lieberman is up to his eyeballs in tsurris, the kind of trouble that will drive a man to madness. From tracking a pair of low-rent thieves who stumble into a heist way over their heads to finding out what happened to a man who predicted his own death in a bizarre twist of fate - not to mention planning for a grandson''s bar mitzvah that threatens to send him to the poorhouse....

Edgar Award–Winning Author: A downhearted detective deals with missing persons and murder in the “psychologically acute and fast-moving crime series” (Booklist). Lew Fonesca is a guy just trying to get along. When his wife died in a senseless auto wreck, he got up and left his old life—and when his car gave out in sunny Sarasota, Florida, he stayed. He takes small process-serving gigs and various odd jobs helping people out, and he tries, although maybe not as hard as he should, to fix the gaping hole in his heart. But for a man who just wants to ease through life without any complications, Lew has a pretty full plate. The shrink he’s been seeing for over a year wants him to finally dump all the grief he’s carrying around so he can have more than a half-life. And Sally, the pretty single mom and social worker who’s helped Lew in the past, wants to deepen their friendship. On top of that, a local minister asks him to find a town council member who’s gone missing just before a crucial vote that could ruin a struggling community, and a distraught father comes to Lew to track down his wife and two kids, who Lew suspects ran off with the man’s best friend. When people start showing up dead, Lew knows he’s in way over his head—and this time he may not be able make it all come out okay. . . . “There are three things we’ve come to expect from a Kaminsky story: superb plotting, real-world dialogue and character development. He doesn’t place a foot wrong in any of these departments in Midnight Pass.” —Sarasota Herald-Tribune “Good dark fun.” —Chicago Tribune

Tobias Leo Pevsner, alias Toby Peters, détective privé à Hollywood, est contacté par Charlie Chaplin en personne. Ce dernier a reçu des menaces de la part d''un individu armé. Pour farfelues qu''elles paraissent, elles sont prises au sérieux par l''acteur qui, en ces années de guerre, compte plus d''ennemis que d''amis en Amérique. Avec l''aide de quelques alliés incongrus mais fidèles, Toby finira par confondre un criminel particulièrement manipulateur. En dépit de la noirceur d''une époque marquée par les restrictions et la chasse aux communistes, Kaminsky impose une irrésistible tonalité burlesque à cette histoire où il nous livre une version apocryphe des origines de Monsieur Verdoux.