Toby Peters
audiobook
(35)
Bullet for a Star
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Patrick Lawlor
Part 1 of the Toby Peters series
The first in a mystery series set in 1940s Hollywood, where a hard-boiled private eye helps a cast of real-life stars
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 Warners, have a job for him.
Someone has mailed the studio a picture of Errol Flynn caught in a compromising position with an underage woman. Although Flynn insists it's a fake, the studio is taking no chances. Peters is to deliver the blackmailer five thousand dollars and return with the photo negative. It should be simple, but Flynn, a swashbuckler on and off the screen, has a way of making things complicated.
Soon it's up to Peters to clear Flynn's name, following a twisted trail that surprisingly leads to the set of The Maltese Falcon, involving Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. As real-life PI Toby Peters meets Bogie's Sam Spade, he doesn't fall prey to being star-struck. But he may still fall prey to a killer.
audiobook
(23)
Murder on the Yellow Brick Road
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Patrick Lawlor
Part 2 of the Toby Peters series
In this mystery, a hard-boiled Hollywood private eye investigates a murdered Munchkin on the set of The Wizard of Oz.
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 face down 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.
audiobook
(15)
You Bet Your Life
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 3 of the Toby Peters series
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 loves to gamble, he's never made a bet in Chicago. Desperate, he turns to the king of Hollywood, Louis B. Mayer, who puts in a call to Toby Peters.
A Hollywood private detective who's proven himself adept at keeping scandals out of the tabloids, Peters flies to Florida for an interview with Al Capone, deposed lord of the Chicago underworld. The retired bootlegger's mind has gone soft, and he doesn't know anything about Chico's bookie, but he suggests Peters speak to his brother. With Scarface's good word as an introduction, the PI heads to Chicago. But it will take more than a good sense of humor to keep Groucho, Harpo, and especially Chico from getting axed.
audiobook
(23)
The Howard Hughes Affair
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Patrick Lawlor
Part 4 of the Toby Peters series
On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Howard Hughes hires Hollywood gumshoe Toby Peters to find stolen blueprints
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 blueprints taken from his home during one of his fabulous parties, he summons Peters. But what starts as counter-espionage intrigue turns into a triple murder, and Peters soon finds himself bait for a killer.
As America is pulled into World War II, Peters is just trying to stay alive as a gunman chases him through a deserted television soundstage. With help from some unlikely allies-including Basil Rathbone, the silver screen's Sherlock Holmes, and gangster/patriot Bugsy Siegel-Peters is determined to dodge the bullets long enough to recover the blueprints before they fall into the wrong hands.
audiobook
(28)
Never Cross a Vampire
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Brian Holsopple
Part 5 of the Toby Peters series
Coffins fill the basement of a crumbling Los Angeles movie theater. Five vampires crowd around fading horror idol Bela Lugosi, peppering him with questions. A malfunctioning plastic fang causes one of the undead-wannabes to lisp. The effect is less than fearsome, but Lugosi is terrified, for one of these oddballs has been making threats on his life. He hires Toby Peters to provide security against his unbalanced fans. The detective is not concerned, but he should be. Even fake vampires can kill. Meanwhile, the Warner brothers contact Peters regarding a murder. A body has surfaced in one of Hollywood's darker corners, and police suspicion has fallen on one of the studio's star screenwriters: William Faulkner. As he struggles to balance the murder investigation while protecting Lugosi, Peters finds a thread connecting the two cases. To get Faulkner off the hook, he'll have to find out who wants to kill Hollywood's original Dracula.
audiobook
(15)
Catch a Falling Clown
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 7 of the Toby Peters series
A hard-boiled Hollywood PI has to work without a net to save Emmett Kelly from a killer who's not clowning around
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 his disguise will include a red nose.
The killer has already electrocuted an elephant, and hobo clown Emmett Kelly has had a close brush with death. The second-rate circus in this sleepy coastal town seems like another world from Peters's usual Hollywood beat, but of all people, Alfred Hitchcock, the director of Suspicion, is under suspicion. With the investigation on the verge of becoming a three-ring circus, it's up to Toby Peters to cage the killer before anyone else meets a bad end under the big top.
audiobook
(14)
He Done Her Wrong
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 8 of the Toby Peters series
You can't trust a man who's dressed as Mae West, especially not in Mae West's house. One of Hollywood's earliest sex symbols, the whip-smart blonde's star has fallen since the Hays Code cracked down on the racy repartee that made her famous. Her latest project is a thinly veiled autobiographical novel, whose only copy is stolen just after she finishes her first draft. Tonight she's having a Mae West party, with every guest a man dressed as her. The thief is among those in drag, and P. I. Toby Peters has come to tear off his wig. He's there as a favor to his brother, a brutal cop who had a fling with West when she first moved to Hollywood. But this is more than a theft. The crook wants to destroy Mae West, and he has murder on his mind.
audiobook
(10)
The Fala Factor
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 9 of the Toby Peters series
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 Roosevelt, who's come to him on a matter of top-secret national security.
Six months after Pearl Harbor, Mrs. Roosevelt has developed a terrible suspicion. She thinks the president's sprightly Scottish terrier, Fala, has been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter, and she wants Peters to find the real rover-for without him, all may be lost.
As usual, the First Lady is right. Peters learns that the presidential pooch is the linchpin in a fiendish plot against the White House. Fortunately, this old detective has learned some new tricks, and he has no intention of rolling over and playing dead.
audiobook
(19)
The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Johnny Heller
Part 11 of the Toby Peters series
Toby Peters wakes up with a headache, a gun in his face, and a body on the hotel-room bed. He is less surprised by the gun than by the man holding it: Marion Morrison, a. k. a John Wayne. Both of them were lured here by the dead man. The next arrival is a prostitute named Olivia, and hot on her heels is the house detective, who's come to check on the commotion in Room 303. Reasoning that nobody knows all four of them besides the desk clerk, Teddy Spaghetti, the two detectives haul Teddy upstairs, where he confesses to the murder. Since Wayne, Peters, and Olivia all have careers to protect, the house detective agrees to keep their names out of it. It's all very simple--much too simple. As he looks into the murder, Toby finds that powerful people want to stop him from learning what really happened while he was sleeping in Room 303.
audiobook
(13)
Smart Moves
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 12 of the Toby Peters series
A dentist dangles from the window of a swanky Park Avenue hotel, while Toby Peters, a Los Angeles detective who's very far from home, clutches the man by his jacket, which is tearing slowly, stitch by stitch. Across the room, a dead man lies on the bed, his killer pounding on the hotel room door, which sounds like it's going to give way as quickly as the dentist's jacket. Somehow, this entire mess is Albert Einstein's fault. Two nefarious groups have been threatening the great physicist. One is a ring of blackmailers who claim to have evidence that he has been passing nuclear secrets to Russia. The other, a gang of Nazi assassins intent on doing away with one of the most famous threats to the Third Reich. Einstein hires Toby Peters to solve both problems, his life dependent on Peters being smarter, at least in this case, than he is.
audiobook
(11)
Think Fast, Mr. Peters
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 13 of the Toby Peters series
Hollywood detective Toby Peters is asleep on his floor when the dentist who shares his office calls, wailing that his wife has left him. While on the one hand, Toby is shocked that a woman as unpleasant as Mildred could ever attract a suitor, he's even more surprised by the name of the alleged Lothario: Peter Lorre, the scaly-voiced, bug-eyed Hollywood character actor. Though he can't imagine why the dentist would want her back, Toby agrees to track down his missing wife. He finds Lorre in a greasy spoon near the Warner Brothers' lot, but the actor doesn't know a thing about the missing Mildred. Her boyfriend turns out to be a Peter Lorre impersonator, and by the time Toby finds him, he's doing a very credible imitation of a dead man. The bullet was meant for the real Lorre, who has just become Toby's client--whether Toby likes it or not.
audiobook
(14)
Buried Caesars
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 14 of the Toby Peters series
The uniformed man standing before Toby Peters is General Douglas MacArthur, a soldier who considers himself the only man who can defeat the Japanese. But though he may be all-powerful in the South Pacific, today he is in Los Angeles with a problem only a detective can solve. The general has an eye on a postwar promotion to the White House, and an aide has stolen his war chest, his donor list, and a handful of embarrassing private letters. To get them back, Toby may need some help. Lucky for him, he's just met Dashiell Hammett, one of the finest crime novelists of all time. Dodging his mistress while he's waiting to rejoin the army, Dash needs amusement and thinks Toby's case sounds like a lark. In fact, the assignment proves dangerous. Toby isn't a soldier, but he soon finds he just might end up dying at a general's whim nonetheless.
audiobook
(9)
Poor Butterfly
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 15 of the Toby Peters series
The year 1942 is a bad time to stage Madame Butterfly. Although Puccini's masterpiece is a perennial favorite of the San Francisco opera crowd, its sympathetic depiction of a Japanese girl causes tension in the dark months following Pearl Harbor. Newspaper editorialists rage against the production, opera buffs picket the theater, and a note appears nailed to the house door, threatening violence against the cast and crew. When the first workman dies, the maestro calls Toby Peters, a Los Angeles detective who works discreetly for Hollywood's rich and famous. Two days remain before the opening night, and the body count continues to rise. As he hunts for this self-styled phantom of the opera, Toby falls for one of the company starlets. They must tread lightly, or risk a death more dramatic than anything Puccini ever dreamed up.
audiobook
(15)
The Melting Clock
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Stephen Bowlby
Part 16 of the Toby Peters series
An ax-wielding monk hacks at the door. Toby Peters is on the other side, running as fast as his recently broken leg will allow. Alongside him is Salvador Dalí, dressed in a rabbit suit, emphatically muttering grasshoppers as they try to make their escape. Dalí insists on being carried across the lawn, so Peters hobbles along with the surrealist in his arms. They get in the car just as the monk chops down the front door. The car doesn't start, and the monk charges silently, ax held aloft. And this isn't even the strangest thing that has happened to Toby Peters this week. Life has been peculiar ever since the call came from Dalí's wife. Peters, suffering from post-New Year's celebration malaise, was happy to look into the theft of three of Dalí's paintings. He had no idea, however, that the investigation might end with his face being literally turned into something resembling abstract art.
audiobook
(7)
Tomorrow Is Another Day
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 18 of the Toby Peters series
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
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...
audiobook
(10)
Dancing in the Dark
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 19 of the Toby Peters series
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 gets.
To sidestep the flirtations of the lead-footed lady, Astaire hires private investigator Toby Peters to pose as a dance instructor and take over the lessons. But when someone cuts in and cuts Luna's throat, the grieving gangster makes Peters an offer he can't refuse: Find the killer-or go from having two left feet to one foot in the grave.
Now, instead of punishing the parquet, the silver screen's most famous song-and-dance man is pounding the pavement with his new partner-a rumpled, middle-aged gumshoe who just wants to live to shuffle through another day...
audiobook
(19)
A Fatal Glass of Beer
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 20 of the Toby Peters series
This is a road-trip mystery with an old Hollywood backdrop, starring PI Toby Peters and the great comic W. C. Fields.
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 matter when a burglar has the audacity to rob him blind, stealing his bankbooks and cleaning out his accounts. Steaming, the comedian hires Hollywood private investigator Toby Peters to track down the missing dough and protect what remains of his nest egg.
On a cross-country road trip through small-town 1940s America, a frequently inebriated Fields and a frequently exasperated Peters encounter complications in the form of the Amish, John Barrymore, and the Ku Klux Klan. But can they catch their elusive quarry-Lester O. Hipnoodle?
audiobook
(13)
A Few Minutes Past Midnight
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 21 of the Toby Peters series
PI Toby Peters comes to the aid of Charlie Chaplin when the Little Tramp becomes a big target in this mystery from the Edgar Award winner.
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 his house one night, the maniac isn't talking politics. He demands Chaplin stop making his latest black comedy about a man who murders wealthy women for their money-and specifically tells him to stay away from one Fiona Sullivan. Who?
Chaplin turns to the shamus to the stars, Toby Peters, to keep him from harm and apprehend his nocturnal visitor. Peters's lead on Fiona comes from a most unlikely source-his landlady, Mrs. Irene Plaut, knows the woman. Rallying his crew of diminutive Gunther Wherthman, wrestler Jeremy Butler, and dentist Sheldon Minck, Toby's determined to catch the midnight madman before Chaplin is silenced forever.
audiobook
(10)
To Catch a Spy
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 22 of the Toby Peters series
As Hollywood PI Toby Peters teams up with Cary Grant in this World War II-era spy romp.
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...
audiobook
(7)
Mildred Pierced
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 23 of the Toby Peters series
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).
audiobook
(15)
Now You See It
by Stuart M. Kaminsky
read by Jim Meskimen
Part 24 of the Toby Peters series
The final Toby Peters Hollywood whodunit from the Edgar Award-winning author is a marvelous magic trick of a mystery featuring Harry Blackstone.
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 doesn't expect the job to include replacing a showgirl for Blackstone's show-stopping sawing-a-woman-in-half trick after the saboteur has stolen the blade.
Peters's brief career in magic is only the first surprise as a blackmailing con man turns up shot in a dressing room backstage and one of Blackstone's competitors ends up dead at a testimonial dinner. With "The Great Blackstone" now a murder suspect, the sleuth will need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to solve this mystery...
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