To Catch a Spy by
Stuart M. Kaminsky
hbk out September 03
Published by Orion
at £17.99
Another delightful tale in Kaminsky's 'Toby Peters' series, in which a rather
self-effacing Californian private eye becomes involved with a famous
Hollywood celebrity in each book, the star becoming one of his clients.
The books are all set in the nineteen-forties and in this tale, he helps - and
sometimes hinders - Cary Grant. A factual note in the front of the book
indicates that during the war, Cary Grant (born in England) was probably a
part-time British agent and the story trades on the truth by having Grant
track a cell of Nazi sympathisers and would-be saboteurs in Los Angeles.
In many ways, the plot is not all that relevant, being a frame on which to
hang all the delightful characters that crop up in the Tony Peters stories. He
lives in weird lodging house where the aged and deaf landlady insists that he
is a publisher and rodent exterminator. She rules her guests with a rod of
iron and feeds them extraordinary meals, peanut butter being a major
ingredient. Incidentally, I was intrigued to read that during the war,
California has blackout curtains, ration books and strict petrol quotas.
Toby has a dwarf friend who is of great assistance in his exploits and a long-
suffering girl-friend, as well as a truculent brother who is a senior detective.
His office is a closet off the surgery of an eccentric dentist, who also gets
embroiled in his exploits. They all form the basis for a chaotic romp with
plenty of gunfire and assorted mayhem, but it is the humour that makes this
series so attractive - you can feel that the author enjoys every word he
writes. The last words in the book are 'Joan Crawford', so presumably she is
the subject of the next saga.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
To Catch a Spy by
Stuart M. Kaminsky
