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Toby Peters #2
Murder On The Yellow Brick Road
Toby Peters investigates threats to Judy Garland and a body on the MGM lotA year after The Wizard of Oz’s smash success, the yellow brick road is crumbling. The famous sets are stashed on a soundstage in the depths of the MGM back lot while the studio plans a sequel, and a strange addition has just been made to the a munchkin in full costume lying facedown with a knife buried in his back. The studio boss calls Toby Peters, a Hollywood detective with a reputation for discretion, and asks for help keeping the murder quiet. MGM is a family company, and Judy Garland, who found the body, is a wholesome actress whose rising star cannot risk a whiff of scandal. But as Peters quickly learns, the threat to Miss Garland isn’t the It’s the psychopathic killer whose turf is the back lot, and whose crime of choice is the murder of the silver screen’s finest.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1977
68 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
About the author
Stuart M. Kaminsky
160 books215 followersStuart M. Kaminsky wrote 50 published novels, 5 biographies, 4 textbooks and 35 short stories. He also has screenwriting credits on four produced films including ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, ENEMY TERRITORY, A WOMAN IN THE WIND and HIDDEN FEARS. He was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for six prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Awards including one for his short story “Snow” in 1999. He won an Edgar for his novel A COLD RED SUNRISE, which was also awarded the Prix De Roman D’Aventure of France. He was nominated for both a Shamus Award and a McCavity Readers Choice Award.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.
Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.
His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.
Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.
Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
September 25, 2019
The Toby Peters novels are solid three star mysteries, but I like to give them an extra star because the gimmick of having golden age celebrities (in this case Judy Garland and Raymond Chandler) running around and interacting with the plot is just so fun.
June 9, 2022
On November 1, 1940, private investigator Toby Peters gets a call from Judy Garland asking him to come to the M.G.M. studios. He’s intrigued. “I had a few dollars in the bank for a job I had just completed for Errol Flynn, but it wouldn’t last long and M.G.M. was the money studio.”
When he arrives, he finds that one of the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz has been murdered. Everyone at M.G.M., from studio chief Louis B. Mayer on down, wants Toby not only to solve the murder quickly but to do it in a way that will avoid negative publicity, which could be disastrous for the studio. In Mayer’s opinion, a scandal involving a murdered Munchkin on the M.G.M. lot would even be bad for the country, because people believe in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland, and M.G.M.
The police, led by Toby’s detective brother Phil, think they have the murderer in custody, but Toby thinks they’re wrong. As he pursues his investigation, though, he soon learns the hard way that getting too close to the killer could be dangerous to his own health.
Toby is a classic hard-boiled PI. As he describes himself, “My nose is against my face from two punches too many. At 44 I’ve a few grey hairs in my short sideburns, and my smile looks like a cynical sneer even when I’m having a good time, which isn’t very often.” His office is shabby. He shares space with a third-rate dentist in a decrepit building that “had the eternal smell of Lysol to cover up the essence of derelict in the cracked tile hall.” The building has an elevator, “but a crippled spinster on relief could beat it to the fourth floor without even trying.” You get the idea.
This is the second book in the Toby Peters series, and both of them are fun reads, especially for those who like both noir detective fiction and classic Hollywood movies. (The first book, Bullet for a Star, is about the Errol Flynn case referred to above.) The mysteries are engaging on their own terms, but the best aspect of the books, in my opinion, is the interaction between the fictional characters and some real-life people from the era, most notably movie stars and others in the movie business.
I enjoy the way that Kaminsky integrates these nonfictional characters into the story. In this book, besides Judy Garland and Louis B. Mayer, others with whom Toby interacts include Victor Fleming, the director of 1939 box-office hits The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, and GWTW star Clark Gable, both of whom witnessed the Munchkin murder. (Did any Hollywood director ever have a better year than Fleming had in 1939?) Toby also sees William Randolph Hearst at his estate, but they don’t talk.
My favorite cameo of all is the noir master himself, Raymond Chandler. When Toby runs into him in a hotel lobby, he has already published The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely, but he tells Toby that he often sits around hotel lobbies “picking up characters and dialogue.” He’s happy he found Toby: “‘You’re the first real private investigator I’ve seen at work.’” So the next time I read a Raymond Chandler novel, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for hints of Chandler’s inspiration, Toby Peters.
When he arrives, he finds that one of the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz has been murdered. Everyone at M.G.M., from studio chief Louis B. Mayer on down, wants Toby not only to solve the murder quickly but to do it in a way that will avoid negative publicity, which could be disastrous for the studio. In Mayer’s opinion, a scandal involving a murdered Munchkin on the M.G.M. lot would even be bad for the country, because people believe in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland, and M.G.M.
The police, led by Toby’s detective brother Phil, think they have the murderer in custody, but Toby thinks they’re wrong. As he pursues his investigation, though, he soon learns the hard way that getting too close to the killer could be dangerous to his own health.
Toby is a classic hard-boiled PI. As he describes himself, “My nose is against my face from two punches too many. At 44 I’ve a few grey hairs in my short sideburns, and my smile looks like a cynical sneer even when I’m having a good time, which isn’t very often.” His office is shabby. He shares space with a third-rate dentist in a decrepit building that “had the eternal smell of Lysol to cover up the essence of derelict in the cracked tile hall.” The building has an elevator, “but a crippled spinster on relief could beat it to the fourth floor without even trying.” You get the idea.
This is the second book in the Toby Peters series, and both of them are fun reads, especially for those who like both noir detective fiction and classic Hollywood movies. (The first book, Bullet for a Star, is about the Errol Flynn case referred to above.) The mysteries are engaging on their own terms, but the best aspect of the books, in my opinion, is the interaction between the fictional characters and some real-life people from the era, most notably movie stars and others in the movie business.
I enjoy the way that Kaminsky integrates these nonfictional characters into the story. In this book, besides Judy Garland and Louis B. Mayer, others with whom Toby interacts include Victor Fleming, the director of 1939 box-office hits The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, and GWTW star Clark Gable, both of whom witnessed the Munchkin murder. (Did any Hollywood director ever have a better year than Fleming had in 1939?) Toby also sees William Randolph Hearst at his estate, but they don’t talk.
My favorite cameo of all is the noir master himself, Raymond Chandler. When Toby runs into him in a hotel lobby, he has already published The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely, but he tells Toby that he often sits around hotel lobbies “picking up characters and dialogue.” He’s happy he found Toby: “‘You’re the first real private investigator I’ve seen at work.’” So the next time I read a Raymond Chandler novel, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for hints of Chandler’s inspiration, Toby Peters.
May 10, 2017
I am an unrepentant sucker for detective stories set in old Hollywood. Chandler was undoubtedly my gateway drug, before I moved on to James Ellroy, Ross MacDonald, Megan Abbott (Megan, I do really enjoy your new teen-focused novels, but if you want to write another noir feminist Hollywood mystery for old time’s sake, I’ll be first in line). Of course, when I discovered the existence of Stuart Kaminsky’s Toby Peters novels, I was absolutely going to add him to the list. This is Hollywood detective fiction with actual movie stars and geeky film references rolled in. My kind of thing then.
But as much as I liked the first volume in this series – Bullet For A Star – I did have a pause before I picked up the follow up. The first volume had a tense scene of revelation actually take place on the set of Sam Spade's office in The Maltese Falcon on the Warner Bros lot; while it ended with a phone call from Judy Garland asking Toby Peters to meet her at the yellow brick road. I was worried that as much as I'd liked it, it was going to turn into a smart-alecky set of books, more interested in in-jokes and star spotting than giving the reader proper detective fiction
I needn't have fretted.
Yes, we have Garland, Clark Gable and Raymond Chandler in the cast of character, but actually we get a book here with a surprising amount of heft. It feels properly hard boiled, with tough guys, tough dames and a twisting mystery that has an undercurrent of real menace. Hollywood itself is indeed a character, but it’s a character like New York is for Mike Hammer. It doesn’t over-whelm all else. Okay, it's easy to guess who did it, and that’s undeniably a flaw (though maybe one that’s improved upon in subsequent volumes), but this is still a damn fine thriller that feels like detective story first and Hollywood pastiche distant second.
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But as much as I liked the first volume in this series – Bullet For A Star – I did have a pause before I picked up the follow up. The first volume had a tense scene of revelation actually take place on the set of Sam Spade's office in The Maltese Falcon on the Warner Bros lot; while it ended with a phone call from Judy Garland asking Toby Peters to meet her at the yellow brick road. I was worried that as much as I'd liked it, it was going to turn into a smart-alecky set of books, more interested in in-jokes and star spotting than giving the reader proper detective fiction
I needn't have fretted.
Yes, we have Garland, Clark Gable and Raymond Chandler in the cast of character, but actually we get a book here with a surprising amount of heft. It feels properly hard boiled, with tough guys, tough dames and a twisting mystery that has an undercurrent of real menace. Hollywood itself is indeed a character, but it’s a character like New York is for Mike Hammer. It doesn’t over-whelm all else. Okay, it's easy to guess who did it, and that’s undeniably a flaw (though maybe one that’s improved upon in subsequent volumes), but this is still a damn fine thriller that feels like detective story first and Hollywood pastiche distant second.
If you get chance, please visit my blog at frjameson.com
LIke my Facebook page
Or follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @frjameson.
September 29, 2024
The second entry in Stuart Kaminsky's Toby Peters series has Toby arriving on a movie set to find the body of a Little Person. Yes, it's the set The Wizard of Oz was filmed on and MGM contacted Toby to investigate. They want to keep this under wraps to avoid any taint on the beloved movie. It isn't Toby's impressive skills that got him the case, it's the fact that his brother is a homicide detective and the studio wants Toby to use his influence on his brother to keep this on the down low. The joke's on them as the brothers' animosity towards each other is volcanic. But it's the 1940s in Hollywood and the big movie studios carry some clout so the investigation quietly carries on.
My attraction to this series is the historical content Kaminsky has blended in. Peters meets Louis B. Mayer, Clark Gable and, of course, Judy Garland. He has an interview on the Hearst estate with the admonition not to stop and get out of his car, just in case a member of the vast menagerie may have wandered out of their enclosure.
The first novel in this series alluded to a real life scandal with Errol Flynn so I was curious if there was a nod to real life here. Off to the internet I went. Wow. There are definitely reasons for safety regulations on movie sets now.
My attraction to this series is the historical content Kaminsky has blended in. Peters meets Louis B. Mayer, Clark Gable and, of course, Judy Garland. He has an interview on the Hearst estate with the admonition not to stop and get out of his car, just in case a member of the vast menagerie may have wandered out of their enclosure.
The first novel in this series alluded to a real life scandal with Errol Flynn so I was curious if there was a nod to real life here. Off to the internet I went. Wow. There are definitely reasons for safety regulations on movie sets now.
January 29, 2016
nice little mystery by Kamisky, set on the MGM sound stage during filming of Wizard of Oz
July 14, 2015
I really liked this story better than the first and I like Kaminsky's writing style. I am going to check out some of his other series and continue on with the next Toby Peters book.
October 20, 2019
Not nearly as good as Book #1 of the series. Once we follow hard-boiled PI, Toby Peters and his exploits in Hollywood. This time he is called by Judy Garland due to her discovering the body of a midget on the now unused set of The Wizard of Oz. The story takes place one year after the movie was filmed and Garland gets a call to come to the old set where she discovers a dead midget fully dressed in a Wizard of Oz costume. Toby gets called in and sets out to try and find the culprit. Another midget is charged with the crime, but Peters gets to talk with the suspect who gives him some information that indicates he is not the murderer. Along the way we meet film director Victor Fleming, along with Clark Gable and even take a trip to Hearst Castle, where William Randolph Hearst is seen eating a hamburger! Lots of Hollywood stuff, lots on midgets and lots on jealousy. I figured out the plot a little to easily and the book was not nearly as well crafted as #1 in the series, but it is nonetheless a wonderfully fun book to read.
June 9, 2012
Another period piece, Murder On The Yellow Brick Road, was written in 1978 and set in Hollywood of the 1940s and the recently released film, The Wizard of Oz. A Munchkin is murdered and PI Toby Peters is asked to find out who did it and why while keeping the whole business out of the news. Kaminsky weaves real life characters, Judy Garland, Raymond Chandler, Clark Gable, and Louis B. Mayer into an interesting and entertaining mystery and provides a nostalgic look at the glamour of Hollywood past. I'll look for more in this older series.
June 14, 2020
A call from Judy Garland leads Toby Peters to the M.G.M. lot and the sets for The Wizard of Oz, seldom used since a year has passed since the picture was released. But there Toby finds the body of a little person in Munchkin costume, something the studio would like to keep as quiet as possible. So Toby takes on the case, interviewing witnesses (including Clark Gable and Victor Fleming), aided at one point by an enterprising young suspense writer named Raymond Chandler, harassed by his brother (an irascible LAPD lieutenant), and targeted by the killer. A fun read that introduces characters who continue through the series.
November 27, 2020
Extremely well done. When reading, I felt as though I was back in Hollywood in 1940. The dialogue is crisp, with nice touches of humor and it's written in the style of film noir, which I also like. Real-life and fictional characters mesh nicely in the storyline. Toby Peters is a delightful character, a real throwback to the Sam Spade-types that I enjoyed on film. All in all, a quite enjoyable book.
September 21, 2022
The plot started out with an interesting premise. It's 1940, and a murder has taken place on the actual Yellow Brick Road. The one at MGM studios on the set of the Wizard of Oz. But the character of Tobey Peters is just too hard-boiled of a person for me. His coarse-ness rubbed me wrong. I didn't care for the foul language and mature scenes.
July 4, 2024
3.5 or 3.75
Fun lighter hard-boiled PI story set in old Hollywood right after Wizard of Oz.
Fun lighter hard-boiled PI story set in old Hollywood right after Wizard of Oz.
June 11, 2023
Dos muitos famosos que desfilam neste livro, destaca-se raymond Chandler, cujo Philip Marlowe se não é a principal inspiração para o Toby, muito me admiraria.
July 21, 2014
This book is OK to pass the time...but just OK. Kaminsky doesn't work very hard at evoking the time, the place, or the people. His flophouse/LA descriptions would have slotted nicely into any lowbudget 1970s cop show. There's a lot of product placement--how many times can he mention he had a Pepsi? or brand-name coffee? but aside from that I didn't feel transported to the period, even with mentions of the Presidential campaign. His stars are cardboard characters that don't contribute much to the action..and the appearance of Chandler as a minor character is just...meh. Maybe I'm hard to please because I have read all of Hammett's and most of Chandler's work, and seen many noir films.
The plot is harmless enough, and of course the whole thing is unbelievable, but hey, it's fiction. Read it on the plane, or when you're stuck waiting for someone. I read it on a sleepless night, and while it didn't make me drift off, I didn't lose any sleep over it either.
The plot is harmless enough, and of course the whole thing is unbelievable, but hey, it's fiction. Read it on the plane, or when you're stuck waiting for someone. I read it on a sleepless night, and while it didn't make me drift off, I didn't lose any sleep over it either.
May 18, 2012
A good bit of fun. Bit light on plot, but some great dialogue in the vein of Chandlers Phillip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler, in fact makes a cameo appearance..along with Judy Garland and Clark Gable!) The plot centers around the murder of a munchkin from the movie "The Wizard of Oz" and is investigated by our PI Toby Peters. Peters is your archetypal gumshoe; world weary, wisecracking, and worn around the edges. Kaminsky paints a nostalgic picture of 40's LA, dropping in some current affairs from the period, and if you dig the whole noir genre, I think you'll enjoy this. Be warned, this may change your opinions of munchkins forever!
As a side note, Kaminsky comes up with a great quote which I think is relevant today:
"Funny thing, civilization. It promises so much, and what it delivers is mass production of shoddy merchandise and shoddy people." How true. How very true.
As a side note, Kaminsky comes up with a great quote which I think is relevant today:
"Funny thing, civilization. It promises so much, and what it delivers is mass production of shoddy merchandise and shoddy people." How true. How very true.
April 12, 2014
There's a dead munchkin on the MGM lot. Not just on the lot. On the set of the Wizard. And in costume. This is not the kind of publicity a wholesome studio wants. So enter Toby Peters, slightly hard-boiled and very hard luck private investigator.
Again, Kaminsky hits the sweet spot with a compellingly readable book that's powered by a likeable protagonist and Kaminsky's knowledge of film history. It's not great literature. But the pages turn and you look for the Easter eggs to keep popping up. And that is not a bad thing.
And dead munchkins.
Again, Kaminsky hits the sweet spot with a compellingly readable book that's powered by a likeable protagonist and Kaminsky's knowledge of film history. It's not great literature. But the pages turn and you look for the Easter eggs to keep popping up. And that is not a bad thing.
And dead munchkins.
July 9, 2024
Audiobook (narrated by Patrick Lawlor)
A fun, not very complicated story. Fast paced. Knives and guns. Toby the detective gets physically banged up by bad guys and threatened by his brother the cop. Some foul language but not a lot.
Robin’s Ratings
5🌟 = Out of this world. Amazing. Unforgettable. A personal favorite.
4🌟 = Loved it. Will recommend to others.
3🌟 = Liked it. Glad I read it.
2🌟 = The book was okay, but I’ve enjoyed others so much more.
1🌟 = I didn’t like it and can’t recommend it.
A fun, not very complicated story. Fast paced. Knives and guns. Toby the detective gets physically banged up by bad guys and threatened by his brother the cop. Some foul language but not a lot.
Robin’s Ratings
5🌟 = Out of this world. Amazing. Unforgettable. A personal favorite.
4🌟 = Loved it. Will recommend to others.
3🌟 = Liked it. Glad I read it.
2🌟 = The book was okay, but I’ve enjoyed others so much more.
1🌟 = I didn’t like it and can’t recommend it.
April 16, 2019
This is a fun read about a detective trying to find out who is killing people in the movie industry. I had read this some time ago but had forgot the name and the Goodreads "What's the name of that book" people were kind enough to steer me back to it. It is a really fun book.
It is not long at all but alot of fun and there are constant references to Old Time Movie Stars made and some actually make an apearance. Just a good fun mystery to lose yourself in for a few hours.
It is not long at all but alot of fun and there are constant references to Old Time Movie Stars made and some actually make an apearance. Just a good fun mystery to lose yourself in for a few hours.
June 14, 2015
Hay dos cosas que no puedo perdonar en este libro. Uno, que teniendo un personaje tan fascinante como Judy Garland entre las manos el autor haya preferido reducirla a una caricatura insulsa (y lo siento, pero soy una admiradora acérrima de Garland, de ahí que haya querido leerlo), y dos, que una novela tan corta como esta pueda ser taaaaaaan aburrida y taaaaaaaaaaaan condenadamente mala.
May 11, 2023
Who killed someone on the wizard of Oz set? Judy Garland? Or was it another MGM player? Clark Gable maybe? This was great!
October 11, 2023
This material would have been better served with a 'cozy' treatment.
Want to read
February 4, 2020Synopsis: someone has murdered a Munchkin. He was knifed at the MGM studio. LA PI Peters must find a murderer on the back lot.
April 21, 2024
Toby Peters races away from Warner Brothers Studios to MGM after receiving a call from Judy Garland asking for his help.
He is met by publicity chief, Warren Huff, who takes him to the crime scene: a dead dwarf on the set of Wizard of Oz. He is in full costume. But the movie finished production a year ago. What is he doing there?
Judy Garland meets him and explains that she received an anonymous call to go to the set. Toby believes that was to trap her in a scandal.
He meets Louis B. Mayer and goes to work to limit the damage to Judy that publicity of the crime could bring.
The victim had been seen arguing with another little person on the set. The witnesses are Clark Gable and Victor Fleming, the director of Wizard of Oz. He meets the little person, Gunther. He heads out to Hearst Castle to interview Gable and is attacked on the way back.
He works his way around Tinsel Town collecting information. Along the way, several little people are murdered. He meets Roloff, a famous psychologist.
At one point, Toby almost kills Raymond Chandler. Toby is attacked several times and ends up in the hospital. His apartment is trashed. Later, it is condemned leaving him homeless. His eating habits are terrible: bowls of cereal in the morning, fast food at diners for lunch and dinner. His cop brother is softer this time.
He finds the killer holding Judy hostage. Once it is over, Mayer offers him a job, asking, “What do you know about the Marx Brothers?”
Another fun read.
He is met by publicity chief, Warren Huff, who takes him to the crime scene: a dead dwarf on the set of Wizard of Oz. He is in full costume. But the movie finished production a year ago. What is he doing there?
Judy Garland meets him and explains that she received an anonymous call to go to the set. Toby believes that was to trap her in a scandal.
He meets Louis B. Mayer and goes to work to limit the damage to Judy that publicity of the crime could bring.
The victim had been seen arguing with another little person on the set. The witnesses are Clark Gable and Victor Fleming, the director of Wizard of Oz. He meets the little person, Gunther. He heads out to Hearst Castle to interview Gable and is attacked on the way back.
He works his way around Tinsel Town collecting information. Along the way, several little people are murdered. He meets Roloff, a famous psychologist.
At one point, Toby almost kills Raymond Chandler. Toby is attacked several times and ends up in the hospital. His apartment is trashed. Later, it is condemned leaving him homeless. His eating habits are terrible: bowls of cereal in the morning, fast food at diners for lunch and dinner. His cop brother is softer this time.
He finds the killer holding Judy hostage. Once it is over, Mayer offers him a job, asking, “What do you know about the Marx Brothers?”
Another fun read.
July 13, 2023
A munchkin is found stabbed to death on a soundstage from the Wizard of Oz. The film was wrapped a year earlier, but the set, costumes and occasionally actors were sometime used for publicity shots. Some one has been using them for more sinister schemes.
Toby Peters is a classic 1940s hard-boiled dick, a down-on-his-luck private eye who can use the per diem the studio is happy to hand out, especially if Toby's contacts (his brother is a police detective in homicide) can help keep the sordid tale out of the papers. Though the Peter's brothers are perpetually on the outs (if you can say the same of Cain and Able), the studio has few more likely options.
Witnesses include Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Victor Fleming among others, All of whom have carefully crafted public personae to protect. The name dropping and the look behind the scenes to the elaborate lifestyles of the rich and famous are the fabric this tale is spun upon.
It's an easy fun read. It can't be great literature and play tribute to the movies and era it wants to evoke, so don't expect stunning plot twists or witty repartee. This would be a great read for long bus trip.
Toby Peters is a classic 1940s hard-boiled dick, a down-on-his-luck private eye who can use the per diem the studio is happy to hand out, especially if Toby's contacts (his brother is a police detective in homicide) can help keep the sordid tale out of the papers. Though the Peter's brothers are perpetually on the outs (if you can say the same of Cain and Able), the studio has few more likely options.
Witnesses include Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Victor Fleming among others, All of whom have carefully crafted public personae to protect. The name dropping and the look behind the scenes to the elaborate lifestyles of the rich and famous are the fabric this tale is spun upon.
It's an easy fun read. It can't be great literature and play tribute to the movies and era it wants to evoke, so don't expect stunning plot twists or witty repartee. This would be a great read for long bus trip.
August 27, 2024
Quick Summary: A murder in Oz
My Review: Murder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart M. Kaminsky is book #2 in the Toby Peters series.
About the Book:"It is November 1, 1940. In the famous sound stage of The Wizard of Oz on the MGM lot, a little man is lying face-up on the yellow brick road. Someone has murdered a munchkin.
Toby Peters is summoned to the scene of the crime by a very young and frightened starlet named Judy Garland and begins to put together the scant clues. Within an hour, he is hired by Lewis B. Mayer himself to keep the name of Judy Garland (and MGM) clean of the scandal, and to hold off the police and the newspapers. But before long, Peters realizes that he is on to nothing less than a plot threatening the life of Miss Garland."
My Final Say: I love that the author has weaved together a story featuring entertainers of yesteryear. This was a good story. It had a tie in with non fiction. ( I can't say much more than that, otherwise I will ruin for others. In the end, I guessed the villain at large.
Rating: 3.75/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Status/Level: 🕸
Audiobook: Yes
Narration: +/-
#wishlistseriesread
My Review: Murder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart M. Kaminsky is book #2 in the Toby Peters series.
About the Book:"It is November 1, 1940. In the famous sound stage of The Wizard of Oz on the MGM lot, a little man is lying face-up on the yellow brick road. Someone has murdered a munchkin.
Toby Peters is summoned to the scene of the crime by a very young and frightened starlet named Judy Garland and begins to put together the scant clues. Within an hour, he is hired by Lewis B. Mayer himself to keep the name of Judy Garland (and MGM) clean of the scandal, and to hold off the police and the newspapers. But before long, Peters realizes that he is on to nothing less than a plot threatening the life of Miss Garland."
My Final Say: I love that the author has weaved together a story featuring entertainers of yesteryear. This was a good story. It had a tie in with non fiction. ( I can't say much more than that, otherwise I will ruin for others. In the end, I guessed the villain at large.
Rating: 3.75/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Status/Level: 🕸
Audiobook: Yes
Narration: +/-
#wishlistseriesread
October 24, 2025
"Someone had murdered a Munchkin. The little man was lying on his back in the middle of the yellow brick road with his startled eyes looking into the overhead lights of an M.G.M. sopund stage. He might have looked kind of cute in a tinsel-town way if it hadn't been for the knife sticking out of his chest.
"The year is 1940, and Los Angeles-based private eye Toby Peters has been called before the real-life Wizard of Oz himself -- Louis BB. Mayer, legendary studio head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His job: to track down a murderer stalking the back lots of one of Hollywood's most powerful movie companies.
"Peters sets to work, plumbing the depths of a world of dreamers, child stars and half-sized philosophers, helped by none other than Clark Gable, Raymond Chandler and Judy Garland. It's a treacherous trail of clues that Peters must follow -- one as winding as the Yellow Brick Road, and deadiler than a field of poppies.
"But does Toby Peters possess enough brains, heart and courage to solve the bizarre case before he becomes the latest victim of Hollywood's new Wicked Witch of the West . . .?"
~~front and back flaps
Just not my genre.
"The year is 1940, and Los Angeles-based private eye Toby Peters has been called before the real-life Wizard of Oz himself -- Louis BB. Mayer, legendary studio head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His job: to track down a murderer stalking the back lots of one of Hollywood's most powerful movie companies.
"Peters sets to work, plumbing the depths of a world of dreamers, child stars and half-sized philosophers, helped by none other than Clark Gable, Raymond Chandler and Judy Garland. It's a treacherous trail of clues that Peters must follow -- one as winding as the Yellow Brick Road, and deadiler than a field of poppies.
"But does Toby Peters possess enough brains, heart and courage to solve the bizarre case before he becomes the latest victim of Hollywood's new Wicked Witch of the West . . .?"
~~front and back flaps
Just not my genre.
June 4, 2022
This is my 2nd Toby Peters mystery as well as the 2nd in the series. Much of the same elements as the first are here with campy, snarky repartee, both sending up and honoring the classic noir detective. The other, one might say gimmick, that was also in the first book, is mixing in stars from Hollywood’s Golden Era. Here we have Judy Garland and Clark Gable. Head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, also appears and teases us (and Toby) into the next book with a concern about the Marx Brothers. Even Raymond Chandler pops in, getting atmosphere for his own novels. The other commonality with the first book is Toby gets it on with the most beautiful woman in each story and gets bashed up so much it’s amazing he’s still alive.
I’ve read one book each from his other two mystery series, Moscow Inspector Rostinikov and Chicago cop, Abe Lieberman, and actually find them more interesting, at least so far from my small sample size. But Toby Peters is fun and quick (this was less than 150 pages) with a nostalgic diversion for this Baby Boomer.
I’ve read one book each from his other two mystery series, Moscow Inspector Rostinikov and Chicago cop, Abe Lieberman, and actually find them more interesting, at least so far from my small sample size. But Toby Peters is fun and quick (this was less than 150 pages) with a nostalgic diversion for this Baby Boomer.
December 5, 2018
Spannend, hard, vanuit de ondergrond van Hollywood-achter-de-schermen en met veel cynische humor. Hoewel het een beetje voorspelbaar wordt voor wie van het hard-boiled houdt en al eerder werken uit de Toby Peters reeks las, blijft dit een spannende topper die zeer ontspannend kan werken - Toby vangt immers alle klappen op.
Een beroemde film, letterlijk op de achtergrond, als decor voor moord, beroemde Hollywood-personages die vanuit een erg menselijk (maar niet noodzakelijk erg fraai) standpunt getoond worden - het maakt het boek bekend terrein waar je je onmiddellijk in thuisvoelt, al is het met de nodige verwondering.
Spannend, moorden, veel vaart, beschrijvingen en dialogen die flink over de schreef van het toelaatbare gaan maken dat je het boek haast niet kan neerleggen.
Terwijl je meekreunt met Toby als hij weer eens klappen incasseert rollen de tranen van het lachen over je wangen - dat soort boek is het nu eenmaal.
Een beroemde film, letterlijk op de achtergrond, als decor voor moord, beroemde Hollywood-personages die vanuit een erg menselijk (maar niet noodzakelijk erg fraai) standpunt getoond worden - het maakt het boek bekend terrein waar je je onmiddellijk in thuisvoelt, al is het met de nodige verwondering.
Spannend, moorden, veel vaart, beschrijvingen en dialogen die flink over de schreef van het toelaatbare gaan maken dat je het boek haast niet kan neerleggen.
Terwijl je meekreunt met Toby als hij weer eens klappen incasseert rollen de tranen van het lachen over je wangen - dat soort boek is het nu eenmaal.
July 22, 2020
This is another in the Toby Peters series. Peters is a private eye in 1940's Hollywood who never has much money but always seems to work for film stars or important people. In this novel, one of the first, he works for MGM in trying to keep the studio out of the press when a munchkin has been found murdered on the famed yellow brick road a year after the Wizard of Oz was released. He works with Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Louis B Mayer, Victor Fleming, Raymond Chandler and sees other famous stars at MGM studios (Walter Pidgeon, Greer Garson) as well as at Hearst's San Simeon. The plot twists around but makes sense at the end. The characters, "real" and fictional, all seem quite true to life. In this story we first meet Gunther, who would be a regular in future stories. I really enjoy these novels, both for the mystery but even more for a look at Hollywood in the 1940's. I highly recommend this novel and others in the series.
April 5, 2021
A Munchkin is murdered. Toby Peters, a LA private eye is hired to find the killer by the head of MGM Studios in 1940. The victim is found on an MGM sound stage, on the famed Yellow Brick Road. What follows is a trip down a winding road that includes munchkin rivalries, an insecure Judy Garland, a fem-fatal, an eager but little-known Raymond Chandler, a helpful Clark Gable, and a host of Hollywood characters. There are death threats, red herrings and plot twists.
There were some interesting parts but overall, I did not enjoy this book. There was a flood of historic real-life characters and references that did not add to the plot development. These characters were introduced with little bearing on the story, like Mickey Rooney, WR Hearst and many more. The “hard-boiled” dialog was also a distraction. I see that this is a second book in a series, so I am assuming the 1st book held more character development of the main character.
There were some interesting parts but overall, I did not enjoy this book. There was a flood of historic real-life characters and references that did not add to the plot development. These characters were introduced with little bearing on the story, like Mickey Rooney, WR Hearst and many more. The “hard-boiled” dialog was also a distraction. I see that this is a second book in a series, so I am assuming the 1st book held more character development of the main character.
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