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Toby Peters #15
Poor Butterfly
1991, mass market paperback reprint edition, Mysterious Press, NY. 179 pages. Toby Peters finds himself in San Francisco in 1942. He immediately also finds trouble in the world of opera. He investigates a new death when a man falls from a high scaffold. Will the show go on?
179 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1990
26 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Stuart M. Kaminsky
159 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 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 1, 2021
It's 1942 and someone's trying to sabotage the grand reopening of the San Francisco Metropolitan Opera House, with it's choice of "Madame Butterfly" during war with Japan. One man has already died, but the police consider it an accident, with a mysterious singing killer, moving in the shadows.
Toby is called in by Leopold Stokowski, on loan to the SFMOH, for the opening night production, because Basil Rathbone recommended him (client from a previous novel). He brings in his usual "team", which is comprised of Sheldon Minck, the sloppy, chubby, unclean, myopic, and bumbling dentist from whom Toby rents a closet/office, Gunther Wherthman, the incredibly dapper Swiss little person and international translator, who rents a room in the same rooming house as Toby, and Jeremy Butler, the dedicated, reliable, and mountainous former wrestler and owner of the office building where Sheldon and Toby have offices.
Basically, a group you'd more expect to see coming out of a clown car... assuming Jeremy could fit.
Chases, mysteries, and a hefty handful of red herrings, false leads, and dead ends which lead to long falls off scaffolding, to the stage floor. All of which inevitably leads to the end scene that started the novel: Toby and Vera, the young ingenue, dangling from a chandelier over the empty seating, in an empty opera house, with an armed killer standing below them!
Fun, enjoyable. Kaminsky is a great writer!
Toby is called in by Leopold Stokowski, on loan to the SFMOH, for the opening night production, because Basil Rathbone recommended him (client from a previous novel). He brings in his usual "team", which is comprised of Sheldon Minck, the sloppy, chubby, unclean, myopic, and bumbling dentist from whom Toby rents a closet/office, Gunther Wherthman, the incredibly dapper Swiss little person and international translator, who rents a room in the same rooming house as Toby, and Jeremy Butler, the dedicated, reliable, and mountainous former wrestler and owner of the office building where Sheldon and Toby have offices.
Basically, a group you'd more expect to see coming out of a clown car... assuming Jeremy could fit.
Chases, mysteries, and a hefty handful of red herrings, false leads, and dead ends which lead to long falls off scaffolding, to the stage floor. All of which inevitably leads to the end scene that started the novel: Toby and Vera, the young ingenue, dangling from a chandelier over the empty seating, in an empty opera house, with an armed killer standing below them!
Fun, enjoyable. Kaminsky is a great writer!
February 7, 2021
The Toby Peters series occasionally hits Ludicrous Speed, but it's by design -- and they're short, so by the time you've said "What the...?" you're about two chapters from the end anyway.
October 10, 2016
A fun quick read
February 15, 2018
Toby and his usual crew (delusional dentist, little person and custodian poet) solve another (multiple) murder, this time on the road in war-time San Francisco for Leopold Stokowski. These are so much fun and easy to read. Good period piece.
April 10, 2021
A Toby Peters story with a few more twists and turns than usual. Toby drives up to San Francisco to take care of an unusual problem at the SF Opera. Mr. Kaminsky hit his stride a few books prior to this one in the series. He's still in the groove.
September 15, 2021
Another quick Toby Peters mystery, this time featuring Leopold Stokowski, and taking place in San Francisco. As always, Toby escapes at the last moment, Toby escapes jeopardy, and, along with his friends captures the villain and is the hero.
April 5, 2022
Toby Peters is hired to protect the San Francisco Opera which is reopening with Madame Butterfly during WWII. There has been a death and threatening letters from a Phantom of the Opera type. Stokowski has hired Toby to protect the cast and make sure the show can open as planned.
October 25, 2025
Toby Peters #15. It's 1942. Leopold Stokowski is in San Francisco putting on "Madame Butterfly" and he needs Toby because the opera's sympathetic treatment of a Japanese girl is drawing heat. And soon there's a corpse -- or corpses. I love Toby and the gang and this one's done very well -- 4 stars.
May 5, 2018
so funny!
June 12, 2024
A trama deste volume passa-se na ópera de S. Francisco e temos um fantasma. Lembra o estilo sarcástico do "Masquerade" do Terry Pratchett que tem a mesma premissa.
December 27, 2016
I was so tickled to find another Toby Peters novel that I started reading it in the check out lane. I became even more tickled that someone I'd read alot about this past year was a star in the book - Leopold Stokowski.
As Kaminsky's Toby Peters fans know, the best part of his series is the inclusion of celebrities mixed into the stories. Sometimes the fit is rough. This time it's just right. Kaminsky knows Stokowski very well and he makes use of his many quirks and eccentricities well throughout the story.
The plot is pretty typical for a mystery. Kaminsky dresses it up as best as possible, but it's still standard. He piles on a bunch about a religious cult that is interesting. The characters are very good, especially Peters and Stokowski. Kaminsky cleverly added details of Stokowski that many would find hard to believe, but are true.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.
As Kaminsky's Toby Peters fans know, the best part of his series is the inclusion of celebrities mixed into the stories. Sometimes the fit is rough. This time it's just right. Kaminsky knows Stokowski very well and he makes use of his many quirks and eccentricities well throughout the story.
The plot is pretty typical for a mystery. Kaminsky dresses it up as best as possible, but it's still standard. He piles on a bunch about a religious cult that is interesting. The characters are very good, especially Peters and Stokowski. Kaminsky cleverly added details of Stokowski that many would find hard to believe, but are true.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.
August 29, 2014
It's always fun to watch Toby Peters interact with the great and famous, and usually end up as poor as he was to start with. This caper has him leaving his familiar Los Angeles haunts to travel to San Francisco at Leopold Stokowski's request. The conductor is helping bring opera back to a long-abandoned building, and the production of Madame Butterfly has hit some snags--including murder threats and pickets. After all, Pearl Harbor was only a few months ago. The police think the whole thing is a publicity stunt, and won't step in until they arrest--Toby, who's been cleverly framed for a murder.
April 21, 2015
OK, there is nothing too deep here. But the period detail is amazing and you can't helpbut have some sympathy for Toby Peters; nobody ever believes his account of himself, even though it is generally quite true.
In this one, the Phantom of the Opera takes exception to plans to stage Madame Butterfly in WW2 San Francisco.
In this one, the Phantom of the Opera takes exception to plans to stage Madame Butterfly in WW2 San Francisco.
June 27, 2015
This series is one of my favorite books I listen to while working in the garden. Poor Butterfly didn't disappoint. Toby and his friends uncover the secrets behind the opera killings with their classic organized confusion. It is just plain fun.
June 30, 2009
Toby Peters w/ Leopold Stokowski
August 16, 2009
Good; Continuing character: Toby Peters; mystery around the opening of an opera as Toby tries to help conductor Leopold Stowkowski out of a jam
October 15, 2014
Very enjoyable, lighthearted yet interesting mystery. The writing reminds me of Rex Stout, and Toby Peters is akin to Archie, Nero Wolfe's main assistant. All in all, Kaminsky weaves a fun read!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews