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What do you get when you put a midget, a former wrestler, an eccentric landlady, a butcherish dentist who fancys himself a lady man, Clark Gable, and our hero, Toby Peters together? The answer is a wonderful private eye novel packed full of 1940's flavor and Hollywood tidbits. In this instance, the 1943 Academy Awards are a background for a mystery involving an incident that occured several years earlier on the set of "Gone With the Wind." At the center of the mystery is a "fruitcake" who appears bent on killing Clark Gable, and a number of extras who were on the set during the filming of the burning of Atlanta for the film. Kaminsky does more than simply throw out a few "old radio" tidbits for the reader to create the feel of 1940's Los Angeles and Hollywood. He describes products, advertising, and even one lengthy conversation covers rationing of all sorts of items and the maddening rules that went with them. Discussion of a possible Japanese attack on L.A. stirs the flavor pot a bit and soon the reader is transported into that past world almost seamlessly. The author even takes the time to name cars that were on the road that I had never heard of... (Crosley?) Interwoven into the fabric of his story is a terribly flawed hero. Toby Peters has changed his European souding name to an Americanish name. He is divorced and his ex-wife will barely speak to him. He has a bad back that acts up at the worse possible times. He is prone to pushing himself too long and too far and his friends often have to revive him to assist him in the climactic resolution of the stories. He is eccentric, poor, and admits that he is not a marksman. In fact, he states that he is even too lazy to clean his gun and make certain his bullets have not corroded. These flaws make an interesting character. He isn't a good fighter, frequently is outrun by the bad guys, and yet somehow he manages to get the job done. In fact he isn't exactly a Sherlock Holmes. The Peters novels are delightful pieces and well worth any reader's time.

2022-11-14 18:20