Kaminsky, Stuart M. 1934-

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Kaminsky, Stuart M. 1934-

(Stuart Melvin Kaminsky)

PERSONAL:

Born September 29, 1934, in Chicago, IL; son of Leo and Dorothy Kaminsky; married Merle Gordon, August 30, 1959 (marriage ended); married Enid Lisa Perll, January 7, 1986; children: (first marriage) Peter Michael, Toby Arthur, Lucy Irene; (second marriage) Natasha Melisa Perll. Education: University of Illinois, B.S., 1957, M.A., 1959; Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1972. Hobbies and other interests: Athletics (especially basketball and football), reading detective fiction and media history/criticism.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Dominick Abel Literary Agency, Inc., 498 West End Ave., New York, NY 10024.

CAREER:

Novelist and screenwriter. University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, science writer, 1962-64; University of Illinois—Chicago, medical writer, 1965-68; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, editor of news service, 1968-69; University of Chicago, director of public relations and assistant to the vice-president for public affairs, 1969-72; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, assistant professor, 1973-75, associate professor of speech, 1975-79, professor of radio, television and film and head of Film Division, 1979-89; Florida State University, Sarasota, FL, founding director of Graduate Film Conservatory, 1989-94. Chicago Film Festival, chair, 1972-74, board member, 1974-75; member of film and creative arts panel, Illinois Arts Council, beginning 1978; consultant, National Endowment for the Humanities. Contributor, Nero Wolfe series, A&E Network. Military service: U.S. Army, 1957-59.

MEMBER:

International Crime Writers Association, Writers Guild of America, Private Eye Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Popular Culture Association of America, Society for Cinema Studies.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Edgar Award nomination, Mystery Writers of America, 1984, for Black Knight in Red Square; Edgar Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1989, for A Cold Red Sunrise; International Prix de Roman for crime fiction, 1990; Grand Master Award, Mystery Writers of America, 2006.

WRITINGS:

MYSTERY NOVELS

Bullet for a Star, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1977.

Murder on the Yellow Brick Road, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1977.

You Bet Your Life, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1979.

The Howard Hughes Affair, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1980.

Never Cross a Vampire, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1980.

Death of a Dissident, Ace Books/Charter Books (New York, NY), 1981.

High Midnight, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1981.

Catch a Falling Clown, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1982.

He Done Her Wrong: A Toby Peters Mystery, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1983.

When the Dark Man Calls (also see below), St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1983.

The Fala Factor, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1984.

Black Knight in Red Square, Charter Books (New York, NY), 1984.

Down for the Count, G.K. Hall (Boston, MA), 1985.

Red Chameleon, Scribner (New York, NY), 1985.

Exercise in Terror, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1985.

Smart Moves, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1986.

The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1986.

Think Fast, Mr. Peters, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1987.

A Fine, Red Rain, Scribner (New York, NY), 1987.

A Cold, Red Sunrise, Scribner (New York, NY), 1988.

Buried Caesars, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Poor Butterfly, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1990.

The Man Who Walked like a Bear: A Porfiry Rostnikov Novel,Scribner (New York, NY), 1990.

Lieberman's Folly, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1991.

The Melting Clock, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Rostnikov's Vacation: An Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov Novel, Scribner (New York, NY), 1991.

Death of a Russian Priest, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1992.

The Devil Met a Lady, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Lieberman's Choice, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

Lieberman's Day, Holt (New York, NY), 1994.

Hard Currency, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1995.

Lieberman's Thief, Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

Tomorrow Is Another Day, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Dancing in the Dark, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Blood and Rubles, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1996.

The Green Bottle, Forge (New York, NY), 1996.

A Fatal Glass of Beer, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1997.

The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Devil on My Doorstep, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.

Vengeance: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 1999.

Fall of a Cosmonaut, Mysterious Press/Warner (New York, NY), 2000.

The Big Silence: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2000.

A Few Minutes Past Midnight: A Toby Peters Mystery, Carroll & Graf Publishers (New York, NY), 2001.

Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Retribution: A Lew Fonesca Novel, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

Not Quite Kosher: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2002.

To Catch a Spy: A Toby Peters Mystery, Carroll & Graf Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

Midnight Pass: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2003.

Mildred Pierced: A Toby Peters Mystery, Carroll & Graf Publishers (New York, NY), 2003.

The Last Dark Place: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2004.

Now You See It: A Toby Peters Mystery, Carroll & Graf Publishers (New York, NY), 2004.

Dead of Winter, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Denial: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2005.

Always Say Goodbye: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2006.

Terror Town: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, Forge (New York, NY), 2006.

OTHER

Here Comes the Interesting Part (one-act play), first produced in New York, NY, at New York Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1968.

Don Siegel, Director (biography), Curtis Books (New York, NY), 1974.

American Film Genres: Approaches to a Critical Theory of Popular Film (textbook), Pflaum/Standard (Fairfield, NJ), 1974, 2nd revised edition, Nelson-Hall (Chicago, IL), 1984.

Clint Eastwood (biography), New American Library (New York, NY), 1975.

(Editor, with Joseph F. Hill) Ingmar Bergman: Essays in Criticism, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1976.

John Huston: Maker of Magic (biography), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1978.

Coop: The Life and Legend of Gary Cooper (biography), St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1980.

(With Dana Hodgdon) Basic Filmmaking (textbook), Arco (New York, NY), 1981.

(With Jeffrey Mahan) American Television Genres (textbook), Nelson-Hall (Chicago, IL), 1985.

Writing for Television, Dell (New York, NY), 1988.

(Editor) Mystery in the Sunshine State: Florida Short Stories, Pineapple Press (Sarasota, FL), 1999.

Hidden and Other Stories, Five Star (Unity, ME), 1999.

(Editor) Mystery Writers of America Presents Show Business Is Murder, Berkley Prime Crime (New York, NY), 2004.

Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed, Hot House Press (Cohasset, MA), 2005.

Also author of dialogue for the film Once upon a Time in America, 1984; author of story and screenplay for the film Enemy Territory, 1987; author of screenplay for the film A Woman in the Wind, 1988. Contributor to books, including Hal in the Classroom, edited by Ralph Amelio, Pflaum/Standard (Fairfield, NJ), 1976; Graphic Violence on the Screen, edited by Thomas Atkins, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1976; and Science Fiction Film, edited by Thomas Atkins, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1976. Contributor to cinema journals and other magazines, including Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine, Positif, Take One, Journal of Popular Film, Journal of the Literary Imagination, Wooster Review, and New Mexico Quarterly.

ADAPTATIONS:

When the Dark Man Calls was adapted as a film titled Frequence Meurtre for Geuville Pictures in 1988; numerous novels have been adapted as audio books.

SIDELIGHTS:

Stuart M. Kaminsky is an author of numerous mysteries and the creator of four distinct series sleuths: World War II-era Toby Peters, Chicago-based Abraham Lieberman, Russian police inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, and Florida private investigator Lew Fonesca. Additionally, Kaminsky has penned novels based on the popular Rockford Files television show. A former film scholar who helped found Florida State University's Graduate Film Conservatory, Kaminsky has devoted himself to mystery writing full time for many years—and with unqualified success. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: "One of the most prolific mystery writers working today, Kaminsky is also one of the best." The recipient of the 2006 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, Kaminsky has also been dubbed "the pre-eminent living writer of police procedurals," by a Kirkus Reviews critic.

Kaminsky's Toby Peters books, including Murder on the Yellow Brick Road, Catch a Falling Clown, Think Fast, Mr. Peters, To Catch a Spy, Mildred Pierced, and Now You See It involve famous real-life characters (often of Hollywood renown) in fictional situations during the 1930s and 1940s. Kaminsky uses his vast knowledge of the time period to fill his books with nostalgic references to things past, such as Beechnut Gum and the Dagwood and Blondie radio show. Concerning his interest in radio, television, and film history, the author once told CA: "I am interested in fostering a concern for serious study of those aspects of our cultural life which are seldom considered seriously. I think our objects of nostalgia and entertainment merit serious attention."

In a review of Catch a Falling Clown, Los Angeles Times book editor Art Seidenbaum remarked that "the fun of Kaminsky comes in dollops of nostalgia and sometimes drops of literary insights." Catch a Falling Clown concerns a series of murders at a circus. The famous clown Emmett Kelley is portrayed as Toby Peters's client, while one of the suspects is none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Other novels by Kaminsky feature film stars such as Mae West, in He Done Her Wrong, and Judy Garland, in Murder on the Yellow Brick Road. Well-known names like Howard Hughes, Joe Louis, Albert Einstein, and Salvador Dali also become victims of plots against their lives or reputations in the Peters novels.

Remarking on the author's characters in Catch a Falling Clown, Seidenbaum observed that Kaminsky "creates people who perform a nice balancing act, between sympathy and cynicism," adding that the author's portrayal of Emmett Kelley is "credible and engaging." While some critics have complained about the over-abundance of humor and period in-jokes in the series, in a review of Poor Butterfly for Publishers Weekly, a critic concluded that the "frightful, madly comic and nostalgic incidents [are] made believable and entertaining in Kaminsky's artful handling."

Charlie Chaplin is at the center of the 2001 Toby Peters title, A Few Minutes Past Midnight. Peters is brought in to protect the actor, no longer quite so popular with the American public, a fact made painfully obvious when a man with a knife appears at Chaplin's wedding. Reviewing the novel in Booklist, Wes Lukowsky called Kaminsky's retro private eye "a good guy with a sense of humor, and every appearance he makes is a welcome one." Reviewing the same book, a Publishers Weekly contributor found it "an amusing story full of suitable heroics." Peters next comes to the aid of Cary Grant in To Catch a Spy, "a mild-mannered thriller," according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. Kaminsky posits the notion that Grant was a British spy during World War II, ferreting out Nazi sympathizers in Hollywood, and Peters is hired to assist in the star's efforts. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted: "The series may be tissue thin by this point, but fans are in for a merry ride."

In 1944, just before she begins filming Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford witnesses the murder of a woman named Mildred in a public park. The woman is shot—pierced—with the bolt from a crossbow. Peters becomes involved to prove the innocence of his dentist who accidentally shot the bolt that killed his wife, Mildred. Soon, however, Peters is in over his head in this "page-turning romp," as Booklist contributor Connie Fletcher described the book. A critic for Kirkus Reviews thought Mildred Pierced was "more somber than Toby's usual antic fare," but a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt differently, noting that this twenty-third installment in the series offered the "usual amiable blend of nostalgia, humor, eccentricity and a mystery built around a celebrity." In the 2004 Now You See It, Peters comes to the aid of magician Harry Blackstone in the final days of World War II. A Publishers Weekly reviewer thought Peters's "footwork is as nimble as ever," while stronger praise came from Booklist contributor Fletcher, who called it a "marvelous magic trick of a mystery." Similarly, a critic for Kirkus Reviews concluded: "The Peters entourage, barreling ahead full tilt, provides just enough insanity to enliven a routine whodunit."

Equally popular are Kaminsky's novels about Russian inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, including Death of a Dissident, Red Chameleon, A Cold Red Sunrise, The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, Fall of a Cosmonaut, and Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express to name only a few. It is the Rostnikov series that has established Kaminsky's literary reputation, winning him a coveted Edgar Award for best mystery novel in 1989 for A Cold Red Sunrise. Reviewers have been particularly praiseworthy of Kaminsky's depiction of the vagaries of police work in a Russia that has changed its political stripes over the past decades. Rostnikov not only has to solve baffling murders in such far-flung locales as Moscow and Siberia, he also has to answer to bureaucratic bosses, sidestep the KGB, and struggle to get a broken toilet repaired. A wounded veteran of World War II, he likes American mystery novels and weightlifting, and he is an apolitical pragmatist. According to a Virginia Quarterly Review contributor, "the murky and constantly shifting moral ground of contemporary Russia is a perfect background for Kaminsky's detective Porfiry Rostnikov." Likewise, Washington Post Book World correspondent Jean M. White noted that the author "has staked a claim to a piece of the Russian turf. His stories are laced with fascinating tidbits of Russian history. He captures the Russian scene and character in rich detail."

Chicago's Tribune Books correspondent Anthony Olcott cited Kaminsky's Rostnikov books for staking a claim "on a rich virgin territory for mysteries, a kind of 87th Precinct crammed with maniacs, cowards, heroes and just plain oddities." The critic added: "Kaminsky draws his Soviet police force as the sort of place where Rostnikov can use virtually any sleuthing tricks he wishes to, provided it will help to solve his case; yet when his tactics succeed and justice is done, jail yawns as wide for him as for the bad guys. Even by itself this marriage of the hard-boiled genre and the police procedural would be a clever stroke, because of the fresh and funny possibilities it presents." In a Booklist review of Death of a Russian Priest, Peter Robertson concluded: "Kaminsky's pacing never falters, but it is his richly layered characterizations and surprising twists of plot that have been the shining jewels in this justly acclaimed series."

The end of the Cold War has provided Kaminsky with more creative opportunities, as his beleaguered Rostnikov finds himself under more stress than ever. In The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, Rostnikov faces wars between rival gangs, packs of man-killing dogs, and rampant corruption as "Moscow's mean streets have gone way beyond mean," to quote reviewer Thomas Gaughan in Booklist. Gaughan went on to comment that Kaminsky "surpasses himself in feeding readers small, telling details of the sadness of life in contemporary Moscow…. This is a strange, sad, and altogether wonderful novel." Library Journal correspondent Rex E. Klett likewise declared: "Rostnikov and his quirky team rank among the best the genre offers."

In the year 2000 Fall of a Cosmonaut, Rostnikov faces three cases at once: the disappearance of a former cosmonaut, the ransoming of a stolen film, and the murder of a science researcher. Initially seen as separate incidents, the three mysteries ultimately intersect. Reviewing the novel in Book, Jennifer Braunschweiger noted that Kaminsky "follows the strategy of a police procedural … and infuses his story with rich characters and settings." Fletcher, writing in Booklist, thought the author set a good tempo to the story, "giving his characters believable quirks, and, especially, bringing a complex society to life." A Publishers Weekly contributor felt that even though the separate cases "turn out to be less absorbing than they seem at first, … Rostnikov and his team are so vivid and palpable that it almost doesn't matter."

Rostnikov is once again in action in the 2001 Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, a book which "displays Kaminsky at his deft, stage-manager best," according to Booklist contributor Fletcher. Once again juggling several plot lines, Kaminsky sends his Russian inspector to Vladivostock seeking to solve a hundred-year-old murder. Meanwhile, he also has a series of murders in the Moscow subway and the kidnapping of a rock star to investigate. For Fletcher, "Kaminsky never fails to craft superlative mysteries." Similar praise came from a Kirkus Reviews critic who felt the novel was "deftly plotted and, as usual, superbly written."

Chicago policeman Abe Lieberman was introduced in the 1991 Lieberman's Folly, and a new title in the series has appeared about every two years since then. As Fletcher noted in a Booklist review of The Big Silence, the novels in this series are "as much about solving moral problems as they are about solving crimes." Typically, several different story lines are going at once, as Lieberman works his way through life's quandaries to find truth and justice, often accompanied by his partner, Bill Hanrahan. For a Publishers Weekly critic reviewing The Big Silence, "the partnerships Lieberman has forged with his compatriots … make the resolutions and the process of achieving them a joy to follow."

In the 2002 title, Not Quite Kosher, for example, Lieberman is involved in the hunt for thieves, a search for a man who has said he is going to die, and in the preparations for the bar mitzvah of his grandson. His partner, meanwhile, is battling an Asian crime gang. For Booklist contributor Fletcher, this was "the kind of complex, diverting puzzle for which Kaminsky is famous." Similar praise was offered by a Publishers Weekly contributor who felt the author "delivers the goods in this seventh Lieberman novel," a "witty, entertaining read."

In The Last Dark Place, Lieberman hunts for the person who killed a professional assassin, and also attempts to prevent an Asian and Latino gang war. A Publishers Weekly contributor thought "Kaminsky's sympathetic hero and his believable family relationships make this an entertaining crime novel." A critic for Kirkus Reviews noted that Kaminsky has almost too many subplots in The Last Dark Place, but that the author "provides most of them a teasing, sometimes heartrending extra kick before calling it a day."

Kaminsky's ninth Abe Lieberman novel, Terror Town, was "terrific," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who further believed that this title would gain the series more notoriety. Lieberman and Hanrahan are investigating the brutal murder of a young mother, an attack on a one-time Chicago Cubs player, and an extortion racket run by a religions fanatic. Fletcher, once again writing in Booklist, called this "another top-notch effort from Kaminsky."

In the late 1990s, Kaminsky introduced yet another series sleuth, the pitiable Lew Fonesca. In his debut mystery, Vengeance, Fonesca has come to roost in Sarasota, Florida, where he keeps a small private investigator's office behind a Dairy Queen. Asked to find two missing persons—one a rich man's trophy wife, one a kidnapped teenager—Fonesca finds solace in his personal sorrows by helping his clients. "The first episode in a new series by Edgar-winner Kaminsky is a very satisfying, exciting read," declared Lukowsky in Booklist. "Fonesca is a decent, troubled man hoping to recover his emotional focus…. Readers will be demanding the sequel before they've finished the debut." A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote of the same title: "As always, Kaminsky's sense of place is faultless, and he skillfully captures a parade of lively, credible characters…. With an early hook, he grabs readers and takes them on a memorably tumultuous ride."

Fonesca's adventures continue in Retribution, in which Kaminsky creates a "nail-biting missing-persons case," according to Fletcher in a Booklist review. A PublishersWeekly writer likewise called this second installment "engrossing." In Midnight Pass the perennially depressed Fonesca is on the trail of a missing wife and kids, as well as on the lookout for a politician whose vote is needed in a highly charged environmental bill. Fletcher called this work a "wryly written parable set in an old-time detective context," in her Booklist review. Further praise came from a Kirkus Reviews contributor who concluded, "Kaminsky strikes a nice balance between dark and light in this fast-moving adventure."

The 2005 Denial finds Fonesca once again on the trail of two cases: one involves a nursing home resident who claims to have witnessed a murder, and the second is a hit-and-run case. A Publishers Weekly writer commented that readers "cannot help cheering for" Lew, while a Kirkus Reviews critic found the same work "compelling in Lew's unobtrusively sensitive way." With the fifth book in the series, Always Say Goodbye, Lew is on the trail of the person who killed his wife in Chicago.

Comfortable in many genres, Kaminsky has also written screenplays, textbooks, and biographies. He once discussed his aims in CA: "In my fiction writing, I am particularly interested in avoiding pretension. In my nonfiction, I am particularly concerned with being provocative and readable." Speaking with Publishers Weekly writer Leonard Picker, Kaminsky voiced his own sense of wonder at his long and prolific career: "When I started writing mystery fiction, I had no idea that I'd have as long and as successful a run as I've had."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, spring, 1990, review of A Cold Red Sunrise, p. 192.

Book, November, 2000, Jennifer Braunschweiger, review of Fall of a Cosmonaut, p. 79.

Booklist, November 15, 1988, review of A Cold Red Sunrise, p. 542; May 15, 1990, review of Poor Butterfly, p. 1783; July, 1992, Peter Robertson, review of Death of a Russian Priest, p. 1923; April 15, 1997, Wes Lukowsky, review of A Fatal Glass of Beer, p. 1406; January 1, 1998, Wes Lukowsky, review of Devil on My Doorstep, p. 783; June 1, 1998, Thomas Gaughan, review of The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, p. 1732; November 15, 1998, Ellie Barta-Moran, review of Never Cross a Vampire, p. 604; August, 1999, Karen Harris, review of The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, p. 2075; September 15, 1999, Wes Lukowsky, review of Vengeance: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, p. 237; July 31, 2000, Connie Fletcher, review of Fall of a Cosmonaut, p. 2120; September 15, 2000, Connie Fletcher, review of The Big Silence: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, p. 221; May 1, 2001, Wes Lukowsky, review of A Few Minutes Past Midnight: A Toby Peters Mystery, p. 1635; September 1, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, p. 57; September 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of Retribution: A Lew Fonesca Novel, p. 199; November 1, 2002, Connie Fletcher, review of Not Quite Kosher: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, p. 452; June 1, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of Mildred Pierced: A Toby Peters Mystery, p. 1750; December 15, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of Midnight Pass: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, p. 731; October 1, 2004, Connie Fletcher, review of Now You See It: A Toby Peters Mystery, p. 313; November 1, 2004, review of The Last Dark Place: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, p. 468; May 1, 2005, Connie Fletcher, review of Denial: A Lew Fonesca Mystery, p. 1524; November 1, 2005, Bill Ott, review of Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed, p. 14; December 15, 2005, Connie Fletcher, review of Terror Town: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, p. 27.

Christian Science Monitor, August 4, 1989, B.J. Rahn, review of A Cold Red Sunrise, pp. 12-13.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2001, review of Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, p. 1168; October 1, 2002, review of No Quite Kosher, p. 1430; May 1, 2002, review of To Catch a Spy, p. 619; May 1, 2003, review of Mildred Pierced, p. 646; October 1, 2003, review of Midnight Pass, p. 1202; October 1, 2004, review of The Last Dark Place, p. 942; October 15, 2004, review of Now You See It, p. 987; April 15, 2005, review of Denial, p. 454; December 1, 2005, review of Terror Town, p. 1257.

Library Journal, May 1, 1997, Rex E. Klett, review of A Fatal Glass of Beer, pp. 144, 153; February 1, 1998, review of Devil on My Doorstep, p. 116; May 1, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, p. 143; October 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, p. 146; December, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Not Quite Kosher, p. 184.

Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1982, Art Seidenbaum, review of Catch a Falling Clown.

New Yorker, October 12, 1987, review of A Fine Red Rain, p. 146.

New York Times Book Review, April 22, 1979, Newgate Callendar, review of You Bet Your Life, p. 20; December 22, 1991, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Melting Clock, p. 21; August 16, 1998, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, p. 12.

Publishers Weekly, October 4, 1985, review of Red Chameleon, p. 70; October 28, 1988, review of A Cold, Red Sunrise, p. 64; April 13, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Man Who Walked Like a Bear, p. 57; April 27, 1990, review of Poor Butterfly, p. 55; May 5, 1997, review of A Fatal Glass of Beer, p. 202; December 15, 1997, review of Devil on My Doorstep, p. 51; June 1, 1998, review of The Dog Who Bit a Policeman, p. 48A; August 2, 1999, review of Vengeance, p. 76; July 31, 2000, review of Fall of a Cosmonaut, p. 74; October 2, 2000, review of The Big Silence, p. 61; June 11, 2001, review of A Few Minutes Past Midnight, p. 64; September 3, 2001, review of Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, p. 66; October 22, 2001, review of Retribution, p. 51; May 27, 2002, review of To Catch a Spy: A Toby Peters Mystery, p. 39; November 11, 2002, review of Not Quite Kosher, p. 43; May 19, 2003, review of Mildred Pierced, p. 55; September 13, 2004, review of Now You See It, p. 61; October 11, 2004, review of The Last Dark Place, p. 59; May 9, 2005, review of Denial, p. 49; December 5, 2005, review of Terror Town, p. 34; December 19, 2005, Leonard Picker, "A New MWA Grand Master," p. 44.

Sarasota Herald Tribune (Sarasota, FL), August 6, 2002, Marjorie North, "Kaminsky Story to Air on Nero Wolfe Series," p. E3; June 5, 2005, Bob Morrison, "Murder Most Local," review of Denial, p. E4.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), June 24, 1990, Anthony Olcott, review of The Man Who Walked Like a Bear, p. 5.

Virginia Quarterly Review, spring, 1992, review of Death of a Russian Priest, p. 60.

Washington Post Book World, December 18, 1988, Jean M. White, review of A Cold, Red Sunrise, p. 8.