Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Chicago Mystery Writer Stuart M. Kaminsky Dies at 75

Stuart M. Kaminsky, the author of more than 60 crime novels, died last Friday. He created several series characters: Toby Peters, a private eye in the 1930s and 40s;
Chicago cop Abe Lieberman; Lew Fonseca, a Seattle process server; and Moscow police detective Porfiry Rostnikov. Kaminsky typically wrote 2 or more books a year. In 2006, the Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master, the organization's highest award. Kaminsky taught film at the Northwestern University and Florida Sate University. He also wrote books about cinema,including American Film Genres: Approaches to a Critical Theory of Popular Film , Basic Filmmaking, , and John Huston, Maker of Magic. Kaminsky also wrote screenplays. Besides being one of America's most revered 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.

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