Toby Peters mysteries

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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.
 ...

"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...