From my Amazon review:
I have read and enjoyed most (if not all) of the Toby Peters mysteries, and this was one of the better ones. Toby represents both Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner at the same time -- Lugosi is being stalked, Faulkner is accused of murder -- and the cases quickly become entwined, with Toby not knowing where one case ends and the other begins. One of the differences to this book (that I don't remember in any other) is that it doesn't begin with the "bad guy" chasing or confronting Toby. There *is* some flashback, but it is expository. As usual, the era references are interesting, and in the re-printed version (that came out in October 2000) there is an good afterword by Kaminsky about the Peters novels and about Bela Lugosi.
I have read and enjoyed most (if not all) of the Toby Peters mysteries, and this was one of the better ones. Toby represents both Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner at the same time -- Lugosi is being stalked, Faulkner is accused of murder -- and the cases quickly become entwined, with Toby not knowing where one case ends and the other begins. One of the differences to this book (that I don't remember in any other) is that it doesn't begin with the "bad guy" chasing or confronting Toby. There *is* some flashback, but it is expository. As usual, the era references are interesting, and in the re-printed version (that came out in October 2000) there is an good afterword by Kaminsky about the Peters novels and about Bela Lugosi.
Very original mystery tale set in 1940's Los Angeles. Sam Spade meets Dracula! The author has all the era's details dead-on.