You Bet Your Life, Stuart M. Kaminsky
You Bet Your Life, Stuart M. Kaminsky
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You Bet Your Life

Author: Stuart M. Kaminsky

Narrator: Stuart M. Kaminsky

Unabridged: 5 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/13/2021


Synopsis

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 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.

About Stuart M. Kaminsky

Stuart M. Kaminsky (1934-2009) was one of the most prolific crime fiction authors of the last four decades. Born in Chicago, he spent his youth immersed in pulp fiction and classic cinema-two forms of popular entertainment which he would make his life's work. After college and a stint in the army, Kaminsky wrote film criticism and biographies of the great actors and directors of Hollywood's Golden Age. In 1977, when a planned biography of Charlton Heston fell through, Kaminsky wrote Bullet for a Star, his first Toby Peters novel, beginning a fiction career that would last the rest of his life.

Kaminsky penned twenty-four novels starring the detective, whom he described as "the anti-Philip Marlowe." In 1981's Death of a Dissident, Kaminsky debuted Moscow police detective Porfiry Rostnikov, whose stories were praised for their accurate depiction of Soviet life. His other two series starred Abe Lieberman, a hardened Chicago cop, and Lew Fonseca, a process server. In all, Kaminsky wrote more than sixty novels. He died in St. Louis in 2009.


Reviews

Goodreads review by F.R.

Of the first three Toby Peters novels, this is the one which feels least satisfying. For those who don’t know (or don’t recall the last time I reviewed one of these) Toby Peters is a 1940s Hollywood detective whose cases take him to the highs and lows of tinsel-town. So far, we’ve had a case involvi......more

Goodreads review by Travis

The historical guest stars are fun and all feel in character. The mystery was interesting and suitably twisty-turny. Love who it was that gives our PI hero the crucial clue. My only problem is the book spends so much time beating on Toby and telling us he's a bit of a loser who is in over his head. It......more

Goodreads review by Patty

After several non-fiction books, I needed something lighter and fictional to distract me, and this book delivered. The portrayals of the Marx Brothers are excellent, and Ian Fleming's appearances add just the right touch.......more

So far this has been my least favorite of this series. The story didn't move as quickly as some of the others. The story is well researched and written. The mystery will keep you guessing until the very unexpected end.......more