Only Toby Peters stands in the way of a plot to murder Albert Einstein
A dentist dangles from the window of a swanky Park Avenue hotel. Toby Peters, a Los Angeles detective who’s very far from home, clutches the man by his jacket, which tears slowly, stich by stich. A dead man lies on the bed, while his killer batters the room door, which is going to pieces 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, 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 one of the most famous opponents of Hitler’s rule. Einstein hires Toby Peters to nip both problems in the bud. But if Einstein can’t figure it out, what chance does Toby have?
From Publishers Weekly
In the 11th Toby Peters caper, Kaminsky (The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance relocates his seedy, middle-aged private eye to New York. Away from L.A. and his usual movie star clients, Peters is still working for celebrities. This time (April, 1942) his client is Albert Einstein, worried that Nazi Fifth columnists are besmirching his loyalty to the Allied cause. Almost incidentally, they may also be planning an assassination. Peters flies East, sets up in New York's Taft Hotel and gets on the case. Soon he's involved with a couple of wise-cracking FBI men, the singer Paul Robeson and a production of Othello, a crazed Hungarian killer and an aging female telephone operator at the Taft. Peters's L.A. officemate, dentist Shelly Minck, is also in town. Peters and Minck move around a lot, avoiding the Hungarian and discovering bodies until the climax at the Waldorf-Astoria. Kaminsky's usual 1940s home-front color is rather pale here (despite a nice scene of Sinatra at the Paramount); the plot doesn't need an Einstein to figure it out; and the Peters-and-Minck slapstick wears thin. Quick, Toby: Back to Hollywood.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“Kaminsky has such a good time writing, and he so loves the period, that the reader is swept along willy-nilly.” — The New York Times Book Review
“If you like your mysteries Sam Spade tough, with tongue-in-cheek and a touch of the theatrical, then the Toby Peters series is just your ticket.” — Houston Chronicle
“Kaminsky has a delightfully original mind enriching—rather than just borrowing from—an old literary form.” — Los Angeles Times