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An entertaining read set in an era we no longer remember
Book Review
By Derryll White
Kaminsky, Stuart (1983). He Done Her Wrong.
Stuart Kaminsky did not write a lot of Toby Peters mysteries, but each one is interesting simply for the cast of characters. Toby himself bumbles around Los Angeles, presenting it as a small World War II town. He knows just about everyone and the struggling Farraday Block, where he shares an office with a dangerously inept dentist, is the centre of Toby’s universe.
The Farraday is kept solvent and serviceable by Jeremy Butler, a mountain of a man who has given up wrestling for poetry. Jeremy faithfully backs Toby’s plays when he gets into trouble – and as a private detective Toby is always in trouble.
When reason is called for, or when help is required dealing with Toby Peters’ boarding house landlady, Mrs. Plaut, the immaculate three-foot-tall small person Gunther is called for.
When not translating academic texts or sensitive government documents, the nattily attired Gunther accompanies Toby on some of his more risqué undertakings, always providing sage advice and impeccable action when required.
The reader is entertained and sometimes slightly diverted from the storyline by encounters with old Hollywood stand-bys Mae West and Cecil B. DeMille. The outstanding unique characters of Toby’s own helpers, however, outshines the glitter of Hollywood personalities.
A family feud, a mad psychiatrist, and a Cecil B. DeMille War Bonds party are all part of the choreography of Toby’s quest as he strives to fulfill Mae West’s request.
This is a very entertaining read set in an era we no longer really remember. And there is always the buxom Mae West’s tantalizing invitation to “Come up and see me some time.”
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
