Never Cross a Vampire

Nice who-dunnit in retro mode. Learn how to pronounce Dracula's alter ego"s name properly. As a student of American history this book is as cool as the icing on the devil's food. Dramedy and comedy backing each other up. Good stuff.

I love the Toby Peters series I wish they were re issued over here in the UK they are great stories, each covers a specific movie star involved in some sort of crime story. They are well written and highly enjoyable reads and I wish I could get more than I own. In this one Toby finds himself helping out Bela Lugosi (the clue to the star is in the title)

I have read and enjoyed most (if not all) of the Toby Peters mysteries, and this was one of the better ones. Toby represents both Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner at the same time -- Lugosi is being stalked, Faulkner is accused of murder -- and the cases quickly become entwined, with Toby not knowing where one case ends and the other begins. One of the differences to this book (that I don't remember in any other) is that it doesn't begin with the "bad guy" chasing or confronting Toby. There *is* some flashback, but it is expository. As usual, the era references are interesting, and in the re-printed version (that came out in October 2000) there is an good afterword by Kaminsky about the Peters novels and about Bela Lugosi.

I read "Never Cross a Vampire" almost ten years ago and I enjoyed the endearing portrait of Bela Lugosi. The book also features a cameo by Boris Karloff and does not shrink from his rivalry with Lugosi. It is fun to read how a "B-Movie Star Villain" can save the day.Also, the Asian Professor's account on the myth of internation vampires deserves special mention.