You Bet Your Life (The Toby Peters Mysteries #3)

By: Stuart M. Kaminsky

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Synopsis: As a hard-boiled Hollywood PI enlists Al Capone&’s help to save the Marx Brothers, Kaminsky &“makes the totally wacky possible&” (The Washington Post). It&’s 1941 and the Marx Brothers&’ first movie for MGM, Go West, has the country in stitches. But now Chico Marx is worried he&’s going to need stitches when he receives a severed ear in the mail—a simple message from a Chicago bookie who wants $120,000, or else. Chico is baffled because, although he loves to gamble, he&’s never made a bet in Chicago. Desperate, he turns to the king of Hollywood, Louis B. Mayer, who puts in a call to Toby Peters. A Hollywood private detective who&’s proven himself adept at keeping scandals out of the tabloids, Peters flies to Florida for an interview with Al Capone, deposed lord of the Chicago underworld. The retired bootlegger&’s mind has gone soft, and he doesn&’t know anything about Chico&’s bookie, but he suggests Peters speak to his brother. With Scarface&’s good word as an introduction, the PI heads to Chicago. But it will take more than a good sense of humor to keep Groucho, Harpo, and especially Chico from getting axed. Edgar Award–winner Stuart Kaminsky&’s &“Toby Peters series was a delight. They were written with more than a dash of humor and featured a variety of improbable real-life characters, ranging from the Marx Brothers to Judy Garland&” (Library Journal).