Never Cross a Vampire: A Toby Peters Mystery
Written by Stuart M. Kaminsky
Narrated by Brian Holsopple
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Stuart M. Kaminsky
Stuart M. Kaminsky (1934-2009) was the author of fifty novels, including the Lew Fonesca mystery series and the Toby Peters mystery series. A former president of Mystery Writers of America, Kaminsky was a recipient of the Edgar Award and the Prix de Roman D’Aventure of France. He was also nominated for the Shamus and McCavity Awards. His previous tie-in work includes two original Rockford Files novels.
Related to Never Cross a Vampire
Titles in the series (45)
Cast a Yellow Shadow: A Mac McCorkle Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smart Moves: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/577th Street Requiem: A Maggie MacGowen Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Secrets: A Frank Clemons Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5He Done Her Wrong: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Cross a Vampire: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Intent: A Maggie MacGowen Mystery Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Buried Caesars: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Telling Lies: A Maggie MacGowen Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Melting Clock: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sacrificial Ground: A Frank Clemons Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Poor Butterfly: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Nantucket Noon: A Homer Kelly Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mordida Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finnegan's Week Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Backup Men: A Mac McCorkle Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emily Dickinson Is Dead: A Homer Kelly Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hollywood Nocturnes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Transcendental Murder Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Porkchoppers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight Baby: A Maggie MacGowen Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Innocents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flesh and Blood: A Frank Clemons Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No Beast So Fierce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing Aztecs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think Fast, Mr. Peters: A Toby Peters Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellow-Dog Contract Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortal Memory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clandestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Never Cross a Vampire
42 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Cross a Vampire by Stuart Kaminsky is the 5th book in the Toby Peters series. Toby is a private eye who works in the Los Angeles area and many of his clients are connected to Hollywood. Currently he is working for Bela Lugosi who is being stalked and sent threatening messages. He is also contacted by a studio lawyer and asked to investigate murder charges that have been brought against author William Faulkner.With plenty of humor and a fair amount of violence, the constantly injured Toby works his two cases by stirring things up to see what arises. He is successful but suddenly the two cases seem connected which makes no sense at all. Toby eventually puts the pieces together and exposes both the murderer and the stalker with very little help from his brother, a police lieutenant with anger issues. The author fills his books with interesting characters, many of whom live on the fringes of Hollywood. In this outing, the real characters of Bella Lugosi and William Faulkner come across much as one would expect them to and Toby is a character who is easy to root for. I enjoyed this outing and look forward to the next one which, I believe is going to highlight one of my personal favorites - “super duper” Gary Cooper.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bela Lugosi is being threatened and William Faulkner is in jail, framed for murder. Toby is up to his badly banged-up skull in wanna-be vampires, bad Hollywood writers, and his brother Phil, the cop who delivers most of his injuries.
Another fun romp through a nostalgic, early 1940s LA with Toby Peters, the dedicated, reasonably competent PI with Hollywood connections. With help from his friends, Gunther, a polyglottal Swiss midget and Butler, his ex-wrestler office landlord.
I always enjoy these books. For whatever reason, I embrace the romanticism of Toby and his life in Mrs. Plaut's rooming house and his small cubby-office off of Sheldon Minck's terrible dentist office. His brother, the police lieutenant who takes out his frustrations by beating on Toby, his ex-wife who has had enough of his bs, and his sense of fair play that puts him in a lot of his near-fatal situations.
Here's Toby,in a nutshell:
"'No money,' I said...
'And no offers of flesh,either,' I added. 'I have no ambition,' I explained. 'Absolutely none. I don't want or need a lot of money. I have no dreams money can buy. What I always need is just a little more than I've got, not a lot more, and I'm not about to be bought in for a few hundred dollars. It's a bind, but it keeps my reputation clean and my suits old.'
'And when you go to that great Pinkerton agency in the sky, they may reward you bymaking you a night watchman on the gate of heaven,' she spat.
'Or the gate of hell,' I added. 'I'd like that.'"
That's my Toby. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Originally written in the 1970s and set in the 1940s, this mystery had a very film noir, dark and gritty atmosphere. I liked Toby as a character but I could not follow the murder mystery plot or figure out how he was solving it. I’m not sure if this was because I listened to it on audio and so I couldn’t flip back and re-read parts or if it was the book’s fault. I suspect some of both.I liked all the voices the narrator did except for Toby. The book is written in first person from Toby’s point of view so there is a lot of Toby’s voice. I think he was trying to make Toby seem cool and confident but most of the time Toby sounded bored.The author often had Toby commenting on how much something costs or what news is on the radio as he’s driving around. If you have nostalgia for the 1940s or the past in general, I think you’ll find this interesting.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Enjoyable tale that includes Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner as characters (Faulkner accused of murder and arrested, and Toby Peters has to get him off). Story takes place in 1942 and there are many product and entertainment references from that time. I think Kaminsky got it wrong when he wrote about an event on the Fibber McGee and Molly program where the mayor wanted McGee to run for water commissioner against Gildersleeve, but by that time Gildersleeve was living in a different town, so the two could not have opposed one another for the position. But overall, a very entertaining book. -- Read January 2010 --
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is an interesting enough book to pass an evening with. It is definitely in the mystery genre rather than the vampire genre. Nothing horrifying about it other than some of the characters. It you like PI books you’ll like this one. The inverse holds true as well.