Stuart M. Kaminsky
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 (1977-2004); Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector (1981-2010); and veteran Chicago 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 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, a Macavity Award, and an Agatha Award. In 2006 Kaminsky received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. 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  and a Ph.D. in speech from Northwestern University. He taught film studies at Northwestern for 16 years, and then taught at Florida State 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 in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.