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A hard-boiled Hollywood PI has to work without a net to save Emmett Kelly from a killer who's not clowning around: "Nostalgic fun" (Publishers Weekly). In February 1942, Californians may be living in fear of a Japanese attack, but the show must go on. The circus is in town--unfortunately so is a killer saboteur who's targeting the star attractions. Private detective Toby Peters is no stranger to going undercover, but this is the first time his disguise will include a red nose. The show more killer has already electrocuted an elephant, and hobo clown Emmett Kelly has had a close brush with death. The second-rate circus in this sleepy coastal town seems like another world from Peters's usual Hollywood beat, but of all people, Alfred Hitchcock, the director of Suspicion, is under suspicion. With the investigation on the verge of becoming a three-ring circus, it's up to Toby Peters to cage the killer before anyone else meets a bad end under the big top. Edgar Award winner Stuart M. Kaminsky's "Toby Peters series [is] a delight . . . Written with more than a dash of humor" and this big-top murder mystery is a "fun, lightweight book for all mystery fans" (Library Journal). show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Emmett Kelly is working in a small circus. One of the elephants is found dead and murder is the cause. When two of the Five Flying Tanuccis die rehearsing a stunt, Kelly decides to call in Toby Peters to find out who is the suspect and why these things have happened.
The suspect list is unusual: a man with an ugly facial scar, a female snake charmer, and a movie director claiming to be Alfred Hitchcock and there to gather insight to circus life for an upcoming movie.
One thing that makes the investigating difficult is the sheriff figures Toby to be the murderer — seems they crossed paths a while back and the sheriff wasn’t pleased with the outcome. To get around the problem, Toby becomes a clown, with the help of Kelly.
Set during the show more 1940s, Toby is a bit of a wise-cracking PI, based out of LA. This is one in a series of Toby Peters Mysteries. Very enjoyable! show less
The suspect list is unusual: a man with an ugly facial scar, a female snake charmer, and a movie director claiming to be Alfred Hitchcock and there to gather insight to circus life for an upcoming movie.
One thing that makes the investigating difficult is the sheriff figures Toby to be the murderer — seems they crossed paths a while back and the sheriff wasn’t pleased with the outcome. To get around the problem, Toby becomes a clown, with the help of Kelly.
Set during the show more 1940s, Toby is a bit of a wise-cracking PI, based out of LA. This is one in a series of Toby Peters Mysteries. Very enjoyable! show less
Circus! How we all loved them as children (and as adults-I think), but this one gets a bit out of hand when Emmett Kelly calls Toby for help with the weird and death-type dangers plaguing the circus and Emmett Kelly himself. With assistance from the usual suspects, Shelly Minck, the odd-ball Dentist; Jeremy Butler, the wrestler-turned-poet, and Gunther Werthman, who spent his early days as a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, and with Toby, disguised as a clown, make things right (with a little helping hand from Alfred Hitchcock who makes a most interesting witness). Join the fun! It just about the best jaunt through a Circus you'll ever experience!
A tale about circuses and side-shows, murder and madness, in 1940s war-time California.
Marking a return to Mirador with its thin-skinned and small-minded sheriff, hulking deputy, and lack of future.
The Big Top. Clowns and high-wire acts. Lions, and tigers and gorillas, oh my! Elephanticide, homicide, attempted vehicular murders and a few not-so-romantic beach encounters. And Toby as a grease-painted clown act. Plus Alfred Hitchcock, collecting background for a planned scene in an upcoming movie, and Emmett Kelly (of the famous "Weary Willie" the clown act) as Toby's client.
Admittedly, not my favourite Toby Peters mystery, but it will definitely be a popular one with fans of the circus.
Marking a return to Mirador with its thin-skinned and small-minded sheriff, hulking deputy, and lack of future.
The Big Top. Clowns and high-wire acts. Lions, and tigers and gorillas, oh my! Elephanticide, homicide, attempted vehicular murders and a few not-so-romantic beach encounters. And Toby as a grease-painted clown act. Plus Alfred Hitchcock, collecting background for a planned scene in an upcoming movie, and Emmett Kelly (of the famous "Weary Willie" the clown act) as Toby's client.
Admittedly, not my favourite Toby Peters mystery, but it will definitely be a popular one with fans of the circus.
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Author Information
128+ Works 7,309 Members
Stuart M. Kaminsky is head of the radio/television/film department at Northwestern University in Illinois. He is also a writer of textbooks, screenplays, and mystery novels. The more popular of his two series of detective novels features Toby Peters. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, the Peters books draw on Kaminsky's knowledge of history and love of show more film by incorporating characters from the film industry's past in nostalgic mysteries. Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (1978), for example, features Judy Garland while Catch a Falling Clown (1982) stars Emmett Kelley as Peters's client and Alfred Hitchcock as a murder suspect. His other critically acclaimed series chronicles the cases of Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov. Kaminsky's detailed studies of Russian police procedure combined with aspects of life in Russia have earned the Series an Edgar nomination for Black Knight in Red Square (1984) and the 1989 Edgar Award for A Cold Red Sunrise (1988). Stuart Kaminsky was born in Chicago in 1934 and died in 2009. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Il giallo Mondadori (1890)
Zwarte Beertjes (2271)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Catch a Falling Clown
- Original title
- Catch a Falling Clown
- Original publication date
- 1981
- People/Characters
- Toby Peters; Emmett Kelly; Alfred Hitchcock
- Important places
- California, USA
- Dedication*
- Für Gar Simmons und seine Sippe
- First words*
- Der Gorilla schlief.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Mae West", antwortete er. "Es ist Mae West."
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 113
- Popularity
- 287,608
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.85)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 16
- ASINs
- 6
