Stuart M. Kaminsky (September 29, 1934 – October 9, 2009) was an American mystery writer and film professor. He is known for three long-running series of mystery novels featuring the protagonists Toby Peters, a

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

in 1940s

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

(1977-2004); Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

police inspector (1981-2010); and veteran

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

police officer Abe Lieberman (1990-2007). There is also a fourth series featuring a Sarasota, Florida, process server named Lew Fonesca (1999-2009). Kaminsky's Inspector Rostnikov novel ''A Cold Red Sunrise'' received the 1989

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best Novel. He earned six other Edgar nominations, most recently for the 2005 non-fiction book ''Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed'', which was also nominated for an

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America Mystery W ...

, a

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

, and an

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

. In 2006 Kaminsky received the Grand Master Award from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

. Kaminsky wrote sixty-three novels and eleven non-fiction books in addition to various other works such as short story collections, graphic novels, screenplays, television scripts and theatrical plays.

Life and career

Kaminsky, who grew up in Chicago, earned a B.S. in journalism and an M.A. in English from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

and a Ph.D. in speech from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He taught

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. ...

at Northwestern for 16 years, and then taught at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

for six years. Kaminsky's first novel was the 1977 Toby Peters mystery ''Bullet for a Star''creating the protagonist's name from a blend of his sons' names: Toby and Peter. He went on to write over sixty novels, as well as story collections and nonfiction works. Kaminsky was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America. Besides being one of America's most prolific mystery writers, Kaminsky inspired many other writers in the genre, including fellow Chicagoan

Sara Paretsky Sara Paretsky (born June 8, 1947) is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski. Life and career Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa. Her father was a microbiologist and moved the ...

, who dedicated the first novel in her

V. I. Warshawski Victoria Iphigenia "Vic" "V. I." Warshawski is a fictional private investigator from Chicago who is the protagonist featured in a series of detective novels and short stories written by Chicago author Sara Paretsky. With the exception of "The ...

private-eye series to Kaminsky.

Death

Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...

he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.Susan L. Rife
Writer placed series in Sarasota
''

Sarasota Herald-Tribune The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''. History The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by Halifax Media ...

''. Retrieved on October 11, 2009.

Works

Novels

Story collections

* ''Hidden and Other Stories'' (1999) * ''The Man Who Beat the System and Other Stories'' (Audio) (2000)

Other fiction

* Kolchak: The Night Stalker ** ''Fever Pitch'' (graphic novel, with Christopher Jones and

Barbara Schulz Barbara Schulz is a French actress who won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 2001. She was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress for the 1999 film '' La Dilettante''. For her performances on the stage, Schulz has been nominated ...

) (2003) ** ''Kolchak the Night Stalker, Volume 1'' (graphic novel, with Joe Gentile and Jeff Rice) (2004) ** ''Kolchak: The Night Stalker Chronicles'' (story anthology, includes "The Night Talker" by Kaminsky) (2005)

As editor

* ''Opening Shots'' (1991) * ''Mystery in the Sunshine State'' (1999) * ''Show Business Is Murder'' (2004) * ''On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe'' (2009)

Non-fiction

* ''A Biographical Study of the Career of Donald Siegel and an Analysis of His Films'' (1972) * ''Clint Eastwood'' (1974) * ''American Film Genres: Approaches to a Critical Theory of Popular Film'' (1974) * ''Don Siegel, Director'' (1974) * ''Ingmar Bergman: Essays in Criticism'' (1975) * ''John Huston: Maker of Magic'' (1978) * ''Coop: The Life and Legend of Gary Cooper'' (1979) * ''Basic Filmmaking'' (with Dana H Hodgdon) (1981) * ''Writing for Television'' (with Mark Walker) (1988) * ''American Television Genres'' (1991) * ''Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed'' (Interviews by Kaminsky; photographs by Laurie Roberts) (2005)

Filmography

* ''

Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produ ...

'' (1984) * '' Enemy Territory'' (1987) * '' Fréquence meurtre'' (1988) * ''Woman in the Wind'' (1990) * ''Hidden Fears'' (1993) * ''

A Nero Wolfe Mystery ''Nero Wolfe'' is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on A&E. Set in New York City sometime in the 1940s–1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Ne ...

'' — " Immune to Murder" (2002)

Plays

* ''The Final Toast'' (2008) * ''Books'' (2009)

References

External links

* * * (2008)
Stuart M. Kaminsky Mysteries website video teaser

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', October 13, 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminsky, Stuart M. 1934 births 2009 deaths American mystery writers 20th-century American novelists American male screenwriters Deaths from hepatitis Edgar Award winners Florida State University faculty Northwestern University School of Communication alumni Northwestern University faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media alumni Writers from Chicago Novelists from Florida Shamus Award winners 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from Illinois Screenwriters from Florida 20th-century American screenwriters