Murder on the Yellow Brick Road

Stuart Kaminsky

Toby Peters is an ex-cop and private investigator. He receives a telephone call from an upset Judy Garland. She had received an anonymous call asking her to come to the Oz movie set. There she had found a dead midget. Rather than call the police, she remembers and calls Toby.

The Wizard of Oz has been out for about a year, but the Munchkin movie set had been kept for celebrity photographs with Munchkins. After the initial call from Miss Garland, Toby soon gets pulled in to investigate the murder. Louis B. Mayer call Toby into his office and asks him to quietly discover what has happened and why a Munchkin has been murdered, knife in chest.

This short novel is an humorous, predictable mystery. It was fun to have Judy Garland, Clark Gable, and real MGM characters pop in and out of the scenes. It takes more dead midgets and some movie land secrets to be revealed for Toby to follow the threads to the proper conclusion. Kaminsky uses a colorful background to fill out Murder on the Yellow Brick Road and brings it to life.

No, this isn't great literature. But it is a lot of fun.

Bullet for a Star
Murder on the Yellow Brick Road
You Bet Your Life
The Howard Hughes Affair
Never Cross a Vampire
High Midnight
Catch a Falling Clown
He Done Her Wrong
The Fala Factor
Down for the Count
The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance
Smart Moves
Think Fast, Mr. Peters
Buried Caesars
Poor Butterfly
The Melting Clock
The Devil Met a Lady
Tomorrow is Another Day
Dancing in the Dark
A Fatal Glass of Beer
A Few Minutes Past Midnight
To Catch a Spy
Mildred Pierced
Now You See It