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 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) * Hollywood ...

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

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police inspector (1981-2010); and veteran

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

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. Categori ...

, a

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "Macavity, mystery cat ...

, and an

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short ...

. In 2006 Kaminsky received the Grand Master Award from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional 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 E ...

. 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 (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and a Ph.D. in speech from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He taught

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various film theory, theoretical, history of film, historical, and film criticism, critical approaches to film, cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media stud ...

at Northwestern for 16 years, and then taught at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

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, who dedicated the first novel in her V. I. Warshawski private-eye series to Kaminsky.

Death

Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

in March 2009 to await a

liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a Liver disease, diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for Cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and ...

to treat the

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, 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), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

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

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

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
''

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''. 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 nominate ...

) (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'' (1984) * '' Enemy Territory'' (1987) * '' Fréquence meurtre'' (1988) * ''Woman in the Wind'' (1990) * ''Hidden Fears'' (1993) * '' A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' — " Immune to Murder" (2002)

Plays

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

References

External links

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

''

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'', 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 Novelists 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 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