Fasten your seatbelts--it's going to be a bumpy ride through 1940s Hollywood as detective Toby Peters is assigned to protect Bette Davis from a rag-tag group of spies. And when the no-nonsense leading lady is kidnapped not once, not twice, but three times, Toby wonders who is going to protect him from her.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
Another pleasantly foolish outing for Toby Peters (The Melting Clock, 1991, etc.), shamus to Hollywood's Golden Age stars. The client this time (1943) is Bette Davis's husband Arthur Farnsworth, whose aeronautical research on a modified bombsight has brought him to the attention of a gang that wants to swap the plans for an old sound-recording that Toby would rather forget--a record of how Davis's first husband, Ham Nelson, blackmailed Howard Hughes over a little performance coaching she gave him--and threatens to kidnap the star if Farnsworth won't play ball. The byplay between Toby and Davis, who stops recycling dialogue from her movies only long enough to get snatched three times, is the high point here; better pass over the mystery in silence. Bright and insubstantial as a meringue. Not the best in this waggish, venerable series. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
''Shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. If you think Stuart Kaminsky doesn't have a feeling for the best of both authors, you are in for a surprise.'' --San Diego Union-Tribune
''Another pleasantly foolish outing for Toby Peters . . . The byplay between Toby and Davis, who stops recycling dialogue from her movies only long enough to get snatched three times, is the high point here.'' --Kirkus Reviews
''Reader Lane does an especially nice job with the crotchety lady's voice.'' --Kliatt
''Christopher Lane interprets the story amusingly and does fine character impersonations of crazy old ladies, petty crooks, and brusque if well-meaning cops.'' --Library Journal --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
''Another pleasantly foolish outing for Toby Peters . . . The byplay between Toby and Davis, who stops recycling dialogue from her movies only long enough to get snatched three times, is the high point here.'' --Kirkus Reviews
''Reader Lane does an especially nice job with the crotchety lady's voice.'' --Kliatt
''Christopher Lane interprets the story amusingly and does fine character impersonations of crazy old ladies, petty crooks, and brusque if well-meaning cops.'' --Library Journal --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A promising premise disappointingly realized,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Devil Met a Lady (Toby Peters Mysteries) (Paperback)
Judging from the number of used copies of this book on sale for just pennies, other readers shared similar reactions: That they found The Devil Met A Lady to be quite a disappointment. Kaminsky continues the (dubious) trend of casting historical figures in fictional adventures by building a mystery, involving wartime espionage, around an attempt to blackmail Bette Davis. But the character that emerges is more that of a dull drag queen doing Davis than of the Fourth Warner Brother. And the sleuth, Toby Peters, solves cases with the help of a vaudevillian network of friends and acquaintances like fortune-tellers, little people and, well, BIG people. The plotting is pretty last ditch, with coincidences aplenty and saviors unexpectedly turning up where it's unlikely they'd be (the "mystery" proves little more than an afterthought). And while a light tone is one thing, The Devil Met A Lady -- the title's a play on the 1936 Davis version of The Maltese Falcon, Satan Met A Lady -- lacks the edge and precision to be a campy romp.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Toby Peters meets Betti Davis,
By
This review is from: The Devil Met a Lady (Toby Peters Mysteries) (Paperback)
The late Stuart M. Kaminsky took his love of film and mystery to Hollywood when he created the Toby Peters series. THE DEVIL METS A LADY may have been written to fulfill a contract because it doesn't have the pace of others in the series.Toby is called upon to protect Miss Davis by her husband and to also locate a recording an associate made of Miss D., a lover and her then husband. The existence of the recording is a threat to her career and the Nazi's want the plans to a gun mount her current husband is designing. A sleazy hotel is their hiding place, but the bad guys seem to know their every move. Nash Black, author of QUALIFYING LAPS.
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