Guilty As Charged

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.