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Toby Peters #8
He Done Her Wrong
As a favor to his brother, Toby Peters does a job for a fading Hollywood divaYou can’t trust a man who’s dressed as Mae West, especially not in Mae West’s house. One of Hollywood’s earliest sex symbols, the whip-smart blonde’s star has fallen since the Hays Code cracked down on the racy repartee that made her famous. Her latest project is a thinly veiled autobiographical novel, whose only copy is stolen just after she finishes her first draft. Tonight she’s having a Mae West party, with every guest a man dressed as her. The thief is among those in drag, and Toby Peters has come to tear off his wig. He’s there as a favor to his brother, a brutal cop who had a fling with West when she first moved to Hollywood. But this is more than a theft. The crook wants to destroy Mae West, and he has murder on his mind.
200 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1983
36 people are currently reading
148 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 32 reviews
November 30, 2024
The Toby Peters cases tread heavily on nostalgia. In this edition, you might have to research the career of Chester Morris or the contents of a Whiz bar. I have no problem with that.
Nor do I have any problems with making Mae West the feature star of the tale. She is at a difficult place in her career.
“Aren’t you a comic?” I asked. “I am a national institution, a risqué treasure being stifled by the repression old Sigmund told us about but we were too inhibited to listen to,” she said with a smile. “I’m so darned clean in Chickadee my own mother wouldn’t have recognized me....". But someone has threatened her and Toby is tasked with protection.
This book suffers from some self-indulgence on Kaminsky's part. The first is an overly long gag about Peters having to edit his landlady's memoir. The second is a tip of the hat to a Philip Marlowe plot where he becomes a prisoner in a remote mental institution....a situation that takes forever to be resolved.
When the real killer is caught and the reason is revealed, it doesn't quite rate a gasp or a giggle. But I know Kaminsky can/will do better, so you can skip this one knowing only that it contains an early scene where Toby's ex gets remarried.
Nor do I have any problems with making Mae West the feature star of the tale. She is at a difficult place in her career.
“Aren’t you a comic?” I asked. “I am a national institution, a risqué treasure being stifled by the repression old Sigmund told us about but we were too inhibited to listen to,” she said with a smile. “I’m so darned clean in Chickadee my own mother wouldn’t have recognized me....". But someone has threatened her and Toby is tasked with protection.
This book suffers from some self-indulgence on Kaminsky's part. The first is an overly long gag about Peters having to edit his landlady's memoir. The second is a tip of the hat to a Philip Marlowe plot where he becomes a prisoner in a remote mental institution....a situation that takes forever to be resolved.
When the real killer is caught and the reason is revealed, it doesn't quite rate a gasp or a giggle. But I know Kaminsky can/will do better, so you can skip this one knowing only that it contains an early scene where Toby's ex gets remarried.
April 8, 2015
I didn't care for this too much. He's a born loser & while it was amusing at first, it just got old & too predictable. By the half way mark, I knew what was going to happen too often. I started skipping ahead & didn't miss a thing.
On the plus side, the characters were quirky - a lot of old time references & stars. I like Old Time Radio, so enjoyed them. The story was well read &, even though I came in long into the series, had no trouble picking up the threads.
I won't bother getting another. Just not my type of humor.
On the plus side, the characters were quirky - a lot of old time references & stars. I like Old Time Radio, so enjoyed them. The story was well read &, even though I came in long into the series, had no trouble picking up the threads.
I won't bother getting another. Just not my type of humor.
June 8, 2022
“ I found cabin 4 with no problem. It was right between 3 and 5”. Funny series. Lots of old Hollywood references. Kind of like Marx brother movies or Hope/Crosby.
6-22 Decided not to continue series.
6-22 Decided not to continue series.
August 7, 2011
Kaminsky's detective, Toby Peters is quite a character. He is a hard boiled PI, just barely scraping by financially, but once he takes a case, he is determined with a capital "D". Peters gets knocked to the mat quite a bit and always gets up before the ten count and keeps coming. When asked how he catches criminals he replies, "I take whatever passes for a lead, and I keep after it. Sometimes I go after ten leads before I get anywhere, and sometimes I go after twenty leads and never get anywhere. My trick is to never give up."(pg.33)
The action takes place in 1942 and begins with the theft of Mae Wests' memoirs. Peters' homebase is a boarding house in Hollywood and the story includes many celebrities of the day. Oh yeah, and his sidekicks are a midget and a former pro wrestler turned poet. What more could you want?
The action takes place in 1942 and begins with the theft of Mae Wests' memoirs. Peters' homebase is a boarding house in Hollywood and the story includes many celebrities of the day. Oh yeah, and his sidekicks are a midget and a former pro wrestler turned poet. What more could you want?
December 31, 2015
I used to read the Toby Peters books back when they first came out. I loved the language, the incredible details, and of course the celebrities included in the stories. Found this one at the book exchange we have at work and I was pleased to find it was just as good a read, all these years later.
June 8, 2025
It all started when Hollywood PI, Tony Peters, is asked to do a favour for his brother, Phil. It involved Mae West.
Phil had known her when she came out to California in 1931. Over the years (it’s now 1942) she had written a book about her life. She only had the one copy and someone had stolen it. She was worried that someone would publish it and claim credit for writing it. Phil can’t handle the case as she wants no publicity on it. Something Toby is good at for his cases.
Meeting up with West, Toby gets the details from her. It seems the thief is a frustrated actor who excels in disguises and impersonations. He is also good at eluding capture! Each time Toby gets close to catching the thief, he slips away and Toby gets damaged. So much for a simple favour.
With the help of a couple of friends, Toby forges on. He runs into a family feud, some of Hollywood’s important people, a few dead bodies, a crazy psychiatrist, spends time in a loony bin and more bodily damage.
It isn’t all blood and guts, there is a layer of humour that runs through the case, like is found in all of the Toby Peters series. A fun read back in the Golden Years of Hollywood.
Phil had known her when she came out to California in 1931. Over the years (it’s now 1942) she had written a book about her life. She only had the one copy and someone had stolen it. She was worried that someone would publish it and claim credit for writing it. Phil can’t handle the case as she wants no publicity on it. Something Toby is good at for his cases.
Meeting up with West, Toby gets the details from her. It seems the thief is a frustrated actor who excels in disguises and impersonations. He is also good at eluding capture! Each time Toby gets close to catching the thief, he slips away and Toby gets damaged. So much for a simple favour.
With the help of a couple of friends, Toby forges on. He runs into a family feud, some of Hollywood’s important people, a few dead bodies, a crazy psychiatrist, spends time in a loony bin and more bodily damage.
It isn’t all blood and guts, there is a layer of humour that runs through the case, like is found in all of the Toby Peters series. A fun read back in the Golden Years of Hollywood.
June 16, 2017
It's 1942 in Los Angeles and our hero Toby is not the usual broke, hard-headed, wise cracking PI. Actually, he is those things but Toby is on the upper side of middle age, lives in a boarding house, has a tiny office inside a dentist's office and his old Buick gives up the ghost when he tries to pursue a killer in a Packard. His squad of friends that he relies on consist only of a fastidious Swiss midget, an aging ex-professional wrestler /poet/janitor and his brother the cop who doesn't actually like him and often uses Toby as a literal punching bag so he doesn't take his rage home to his wife and kids. Nevertheless he really is tough as nails and that suits him well as he does collect stitches again and (perhaps the best part of the book) spends some time with the patients of a mental hospital. Did I mention his client is Mae West who is also tough as nails. Lot's of period background and great characters make this one the best Toby Peters mystery I have read.
September 28, 2020
Another fun excursion with Toby Peters with a pretty good, but obvious for me, mystery.
The writing is what makes this worth reading. THat and the sly references throughout. Though, the misspelling of Ish Kabibble's name bugged me.
The general situations are the same of settings, angry brother, office problems, just about every big star becoming a fleeting friend, mystery of somebody attached and resolution being about the same.
This one was more tedious as Kaminsky went much longer involving tedious side stories. Funny to read, but that many pages could've been another book.
The plot, writing, characters, settings are nearly all the same and Kaminsky covers the worn territory well.
Bottom Line: i recommend this book: 6 out of ten points.
The writing is what makes this worth reading. THat and the sly references throughout. Though, the misspelling of Ish Kabibble's name bugged me.
The general situations are the same of settings, angry brother, office problems, just about every big star becoming a fleeting friend, mystery of somebody attached and resolution being about the same.
This one was more tedious as Kaminsky went much longer involving tedious side stories. Funny to read, but that many pages could've been another book.
The plot, writing, characters, settings are nearly all the same and Kaminsky covers the worn territory well.
Bottom Line: i recommend this book: 6 out of ten points.
June 19, 2025
Toby’s brother, Phil, asks him for a favor. Someone has stolen Mae West’s manuscript for a biography. Toby agrees to act as go between. The manuscript is retrieved, but Toby takes a beating.
Toby is then hired by a psychiatrist to locate one of their patients, named Reznor, who fantasizes about famous people. Toby next visits Cecile B. DeMille. Then Reznor kills his ex-wife’s new husband. Of course, Toby is charged. Then there is another killing.
Toby sets up a meeting with the psychiatrist at his institute, who it turns out is not the man who hired him.
This one was fine. Toby needs some success. He has a new car which is worse than his last car. His wardrobe is miserable. He is borrowing money all of the time.
Toby is then hired by a psychiatrist to locate one of their patients, named Reznor, who fantasizes about famous people. Toby next visits Cecile B. DeMille. Then Reznor kills his ex-wife’s new husband. Of course, Toby is charged. Then there is another killing.
Toby sets up a meeting with the psychiatrist at his institute, who it turns out is not the man who hired him.
This one was fine. Toby needs some success. He has a new car which is worse than his last car. His wardrobe is miserable. He is borrowing money all of the time.
December 4, 2025
After the darkness of Octavia E. Butler’s “The Parable of the Sower” I needed something light & frothy. Who else but Stuart Kaminsky’s Toby Peters private eye series. He has a couple of other great series, but they are much more serious. With Peters I get some nostalgia of 1940s Hollywood plus a nifty mystery along with some laughs. If it wasn’t for bad luck Toby would have no luck at all. He’s as banged up as his car, but somehow, despite possible concussions, he figures out the web of murder & deceit. Hollywood celebs, here Mae West & Cecil B. DeMille, are grateful, but with little remuneration involved, leaving him with his head just above water of creditors & the IRS. “He Done Him Wrong” was just what the doctor ordered after the road Ms Butler took me down.
July 24, 2021
An enjoyable addition to the Peters series. Nothing particularly great about this one - good with quirky additional characters and lots of name dropping. A fun read, but not in the same class as the Porfiry series.
August 31, 2021
Toby Peters is working for Mae West in this one. Toby is actually given the case by his brother, who usually just wants to beat Toby up. The story opens with a party with 40 or 50 men dressed as Mae West. Someone steals the manuscript of her autobiography. As usual the bodies pile up.
September 22, 2019
A bit all over the place, but the scenes in the mental institution were scary, surreal, and funny, and almost made the entire rest of the book worth it.
October 28, 2019
Not my favorite among the Toby Peters books, but entertaining nonetheless. I'm a fan.
October 24, 2022
Starts well but drifts in the second half.
October 26, 2022
A good twisty mystery which includes Mae West - what’s more to ask?
August 10, 2023
No volume oito, o carro é finalmente trocado, mas foi pior a emenda que o soneto, e o Toby torna a sofrer tratos de polé. Mas o nosso herói não se afasta do caminho do bem
August 25, 2023
Audiobook performed by Stephen Bowlby
December 27, 2025
Very entertaining. Really, Toby's life wouldn't sound believable to me either, but the interview at the place he's stuck here was hilarious.
November 11, 2017
"The opening of this book came to me in a dream.
I have a friend named Gordon Hom. I saw him standing, dressed like Mae West, next to a pool surrounded by Mae Wests."
-Stuart M. Kaminsky
And so this novel begins, with Toby surrounded by Mae Wests, blackmail, murder, madness, and a brief stay in an asylum. All this and Toby's client is his own brother, who is looking out for an old flame: Ms West, herself.
Fun and a worthy addition to this great mystery series.
I have a friend named Gordon Hom. I saw him standing, dressed like Mae West, next to a pool surrounded by Mae Wests."
-Stuart M. Kaminsky
And so this novel begins, with Toby surrounded by Mae Wests, blackmail, murder, madness, and a brief stay in an asylum. All this and Toby's client is his own brother, who is looking out for an old flame: Ms West, herself.
Fun and a worthy addition to this great mystery series.
September 23, 2014
I enjoyed Stuart Kaminsky's interpretation of Mae West in this story, and the mystery kept me guessing. Toby Peters manages to solve the problem, although it takes him awhile, and he has to go through quite a bit to reach the solution.
I found this, as the others in this series, to be fun reads, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series.
I found this, as the others in this series, to be fun reads, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series.
March 27, 2025
Not my favorite book in the series but had some really good moments with Mae West. Still, 100x better than a lot of the drivel that is marketed to mystery/thriller fans today. A writer can be witty, clever and inventive and Mr. Kaminsky was all of the above.
Want to read
August 2, 200808/02/08 purchase from thrift store
August 16, 2009
Good; Continuing character: Toby Peters; this time its Mae West that the detective is trying to protect from an escapee from a mental hospital
October 10, 2009
Toby Peters w/ Mae West
October 17, 2012
Good mystery centered around Hollywood in war time and Mae West, among others. Interesting plot and reflection of the times.
November 24, 2012
Set in April 1942 Hollywood. May West has hired Toby Peters to find her stolen tell all mauscript. Has Cecil B. DeMille done her wrong? Written in Film Noir style.
May 11, 2015
Kaminsky makes me laught and this one was no exception. Toby bumbles around investigating but he always seems to figure things out.
September 14, 2013
Good fun read. Disappointed that Mae West didn't appear in the storyline more. Other than that, it was good.
May 3, 2014
This was a Toby Peters Mystery and I enjoy this look back to the 40's. It was a fun read and I wish I could have been there to see the room full of Mae West's.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews