Stuart M. Kaminsky (September 29, 1934[2] – October 9, 2009) was an American
mystery writer and film professor. He is known for three long-running series of mystery novels featuring the protagonists Toby Peters, a
private detective in 1940s
Hollywood (1977-2004); Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a
Moscow police inspector (1981-2010); and veteran
Chicago police officer Abe Lieberman (1990-2007). There is also a fourth series featuring a Sarasota, Florida, process server named Lew Fonesca (1999-2009).
Kaminsky's Inspector Rostnikov novel A Cold Red Sunrise received the 1989
Edgar Award for Best Novel. He earned six other Edgar nominations, most recently for the 2005 non-fiction book Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed, which was also nominated for an
Anthony Award, a
Macavity Award, and an
Agatha Award. In 2006 Kaminsky received the Grand Master Award from the
Mystery Writers of America.[3] Kaminsky wrote sixty-three novels and eleven non-fiction books in addition to various other works such as short story collections, graphic novels, screenplays, television scripts and theatrical plays.
Kaminsky's first novel was the 1977 Toby Peters mystery Bullet for a Star—creating the protagonist's name from a blend of his sons' names: Toby and Peter.[1] He went on to write over sixty novels, as well as story collections and nonfiction works. Kaminsky was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Besides being one of America's most prolific mystery writers, Kaminsky inspired many other writers in the genre, including fellow Chicagoan
Sara Paretsky, who dedicated the first novel in her
V. I. Warshawski private-eye series to Kaminsky.[4]
Death
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to
St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a
liver transplant to treat the
hepatitis he contracted as an
army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a
stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant.[1] He died on October 9, 2009.[6]
Works
Novels
Toby Peters series
Bullet for a Star (1977)
Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (1977)
You Bet Your Life (1978)
The Howard Hughes Affair (1979)
Never Cross a Vampire (1980)
High Midnight (1981)
Catch a Falling Clown (1981)
He Done Her Wrong (1983)
The Fala Factor (1984)
Down for the Count (1985)
The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance (1986)
Smart Moves (1986)
Think Fast, Mr. Peters (1987)
Buried Caesars (1989)
Poor Butterfly (1990)
The Melting Clock (1991)
The Devil Met a Lady (1993)
Tomorrow Is Another Day (1995)
Dancing in the Dark (1996)
A Fatal Glass of Beer (1997)
A Few Minutes Past Midnight (2001)
To Catch a Spy (2002)
Mildred Pierced (2003)
Now You See It (2004)
Inspector Rostnikov series
Rostnikov's Corpse (1981) (also published as Death of a Dissident)