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1991 Shamus Award for Best PI Novel (nominee)
Publisher's Weekly
In the latest of Kaminsky's popular crime capers recreating lost times and glamorous figures, PI Toby Peters gets an assignment from Leopold Stokowski. The maestro's rehearsals for Madame Butterfly in 1942 incite anti-Japanese protests at the crumbling San Francisco Opera House while ''Erik,'' this opera's phantom, kills performers inside. Although Toby's loyal if outlandish buddies arrive to help, Eric eludes them and the murders continue. The detective himself barely escapes death and arrest for killing while he investigates likely suspects: the fake evangelist leading the pickets damning the debasement of noble Lt. Pinkerton; the opera house's eccentric caretaker; a once-hopeful singer with a failing voice. Hardly a pause separate the frightful, madly comic and nostalgic incidents made believable and entertaining in Kaminsky's artful handling.
AudioFile - Rita Nappi
LA private eye Toby Peters is back, and opera is the stage for the threats and subsequent murders by the phantom Toby is hired to ferret out. George Guidall voices the witty, down-to-earth Toby with perfect dryness. He presents imperious Leopold Stokowski, famed conductor, with an accented, formal resonance, and characterizes Toby's ancient landlady and the delicate, young soprano with equal aplomb. Providing all of the roles, major and minor, with individual character, Guidall glides through the story's twists and turns while entertaining the listener with surprises. R.N. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Genre: Mystery
In the latest of Kaminsky's popular crime capers recreating lost times and glamorous figures, PI Toby Peters gets an assignment from Leopold Stokowski. The maestro's rehearsals for Madame Butterfly in 1942 incite anti-Japanese protests at the crumbling San Francisco Opera House while ''Erik,'' this opera's phantom, kills performers inside. Although Toby's loyal if outlandish buddies arrive to help, Eric eludes them and the murders continue. The detective himself barely escapes death and arrest for killing while he investigates likely suspects: the fake evangelist leading the pickets damning the debasement of noble Lt. Pinkerton; the opera house's eccentric caretaker; a once-hopeful singer with a failing voice. Hardly a pause separate the frightful, madly comic and nostalgic incidents made believable and entertaining in Kaminsky's artful handling.
AudioFile - Rita Nappi
LA private eye Toby Peters is back, and opera is the stage for the threats and subsequent murders by the phantom Toby is hired to ferret out. George Guidall voices the witty, down-to-earth Toby with perfect dryness. He presents imperious Leopold Stokowski, famed conductor, with an accented, formal resonance, and characterizes Toby's ancient landlady and the delicate, young soprano with equal aplomb. Providing all of the roles, major and minor, with individual character, Guidall glides through the story's twists and turns while entertaining the listener with surprises. R.N. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Genre: Mystery
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