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Bestselling Author Stuart Kaminsky ReadersRoom: Stuart Kaminsky, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It is a pleasure to chat with you today. StuartKaminsky: Pleased to be with you. This is the first chat room I've ever been in. ReadersRoom: I would like to start things off by talking about your latest novel, Midnight Pass, which I believe came out this month. StuartKaminsky: Yes, December 1. ReadersRoom: It is the latest installment in the Lew Fonesca series. Could you tell us something about it and the series itself?

StuartKaminsky: I started with five short stories about Lew set in Sarasota, where I live. I did not expect it to become a book series, but two of my Fonesca stories got Edgar nominations and a publisher approached me.

ReadersRoom: And this is the third complete Lew Fonesca novel?

StuartKaminsky:It is.

ReadersRoom: Could you tell us a bit about the story?

StuartKaminsky: Sure. There is a Midnight Pass in Sarasota, a narrow waterway across a key. There is an ongoing battle, waged since the 80s about whether to open it. It closed by itself in 1984. There are bumper stickers here reading MIDNIGHT PASS LET IT FLOW. Very controversial. I thought it was a good point of departure. However, there are two primary investigations in the book and one has nothing to do with the Pass.

ReadersRoom: But the story is built around the existing controversy?

StuartKaminsky: Yes, it is. I was even confronted by an angry local resident during a book signing. She claimed I was biased. I am.

ReadersRoom: Interesting. I'd like to move back a few months. I believe Mildred Pierced -- the 24th in the Toby Peters Mystery series came out this September. Perhaps you could tell our readers a bit about Toby's latest adventure.

StuartKaminsky: You mean Mildred Pierced, not the one after it which I have finished?

ReadersRoom: I'm sorry -- I thought Mildred Pierced was the last Peters novel to have been published.

StuartKaminsky: It is the latest one published. I was talking about the as-yet-unpublished Now You See It. Mildred Pierced exists because (a) Mildred Pierce is my favorite movie, (b) I'm a Joan Crawford fan, (c) the timing was perfect. Crawford had been out of work for two years. Then the script of Mildred Pierce was sent to her. It was exactly the time I needed to set my book. Also I had a running character in the book named Mildred. I was happy to kill her off.

ReadersRoom: And now, since you so kindly brought it up -- I would LOVE to hear about Now You See It -- and find out when it will be available!

StuartKaminsky: The novel features Harry Blackstone, Sr., the magician and is full of tricks. I even include one of the magic tricks from the Blackstone radio series at the start of each chapter. As with most of my Toby books, it is about something that really happened. I don't know when it will be available.

ReadersRoom: I wanted to discuss that a bit -- the research and planning that go into the Peters novels. The series is set in and around 1940's Hollywood, and features famous people of the day -- usually film stars of the era. What sort of research do you do, and is it difficult to write dialogue for true "historical" figures?

StuartKaminsky: I read the L.A. Times for the week or so covered in each book. I listen to radio shows from the period. I read biographies. I read magazines. I read history books. About dialogue: I simply imagine the actor speaking as they did in interviews on the radio or newsreels and listen to them in movies which I think represent their persona. I can also do this with non-movie people such as Joe Louis, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt. I should also mention that there are cameo appearances in Now You See It by Cornel Wilde and Phil Silvers.

ReadersRoom: I believe you headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television at Florida State University. Was the idea of the Peters series born there?

StuartKaminsky: I began writing Toby Peters novels in the mid-1970s. I didn't move to Sarasota till 1989. I also headed the Northwestern University film department before that. Toby was born at NU. So was my son Toby.

ReadersRoom: In contrast to the Peters series -- in which it is always the 1940's -- the Inspector Rostnikov novels have moved through the cold war Soviet Union to the current day Russian Republic. I am wondering if you could tell us what might be in the Inspector's near future?

StuartKaminsky: I don't know for certain. I'm too busy to get back to him, at least for a few years. I'd like to do one with the Russian diamond mining industry as background.

ReadersRoom: The fourth series you write is the Abe Lieberman series. Is there anything coming up with that?

StuartKaminsky: Yes, I finished a Lieberman, In a Dark Place, last year, early last year. It is, however, not scheduled for publication till the fall of 2004. I know not why.

ReadersRoom: Working with four VERY separate, VERY different series characters as you do, do you find yourself thinking of a plot and then plugging it into a series, or do you sit down to work on a series, and create a plot to fit it?

StuartKaminsky: I come up with a plot specific to each series. I start with an idea based on that character and think about it for months before writing an outline. Then I plunge in.

ReadersRoom: Do you ever actually write more than one of the series at the same time?

StuartKaminsky: No.

ReadersRoom: Considering the diversity of the characters, I can't say I blame you. Dr. Kaminsky, since we announced this chat we have had a number of questions from our readers for you. Would you answer a few of them?

StuartKaminsky: Shoot, but shoot straight.

ReadersRoom: Beverly, Canton, Ohio: Dr. Kaminsky, I have read that you received the "Prix De Roman D'Aventure" award. Congratulations. (I am from France). How many of your novels have been translated into other languages?

StuartKaminsky: All of my novels have been translated into other languages. I'm published in twelve languages.

ReadersRoom: Brent, Memphis, TN: The biographies you have written include many interesting people. Who was your favorite personality to work with and why?

StuartKaminsky: Easy, Don Siegel. He is the model for Abe Lieberman.

ReadersRoom: Jerry, Detroit, MI: You have hosted quite a few seminars this year. Are the seminars based on your TV show (but more in-depth)? Do you only give seminars on the East coast?

StuartKaminsky: I give the seminars all over the country. You can check my website to keep in touch on this. I go wherever there are enough people interested to make it worthwhile. The seminars are somewhat based on my TV show.

ReadersRoom: And your website address would be www.stuartkaminsky.com

StuartKaminsky: You've got it.

ReadersRoom: Daryl, Houston, TX: Mr. Kaminsky, I enjoy www.mysteryvault.com. My favorite section is your authors links. Does working on the site take much time away from your writing?

StuartKaminsky: The site takes little time. The business of being a small press editor/publisher can be a nightmare. That's www.mysteryvault.com

ReadersRoom: Christine, San Francisco: With biographies, text books, short stories and screen plays to your credit, how many projects do you have on your desk at one time? Of all the projects, which is the most gratifying?

StuartKaminsky: I like to have as many on the desk as I can: contracts, proposals, possibilities, ideas. I prefer as many as six or seven though I work on only one at a time. Of all my projects, I must admit that I like writing for television the most. It is quick, pays well and my work appears much faster than does a novel or a screenplay. I've written for several series including A&E Short Stories and A&E Nero Wolfe. I do like writing the novels almost as much.

ReadersRoom: Rose, Phoenix, AZ: So many of your plots take place in Florida. What is it about Florida that has captured your creative spirit?

StuartKaminsky: Actually, only the Fonesca novels take place in Florida. I live in Florida, and I am fascinated by its madness. Go back and read the prologues to Vengeance and Retribution to see what I mean.

ReadersRoom: Okay, thank you for answering those reader's questions. I would like to follow up on Mystery Vault if I could. Could you tell our readers a bit about it, and what prompted you to become involved in running a small press?

StuartKaminsky: We publish mystery novels which I choose based on my own taste. We publish long out-of-print books and some new ones. I always wanted to try this, to be the one making the decisions about books, to learn about the process.

ReadersRoom: And is Mystery Vault completely your project?

StuartKaminsky: It was my idea. I got someone with more business experience than I have interested in serving as publisher, but I am now editor and publisher. My wife, a psychologist who works with new authors to get their books in shape for publication, works with me and worked on the original idea.

ReadersRoom: Being a small publisher sounds like a lot of work, but do you find it very rewarding? Discovering new talent that might not work for a big press?

StuartKaminsky: Not financially. But yes, finding new talent and bringing back forgotten good books is rewarding.

ReadersRoom: Tell us, Stuart, what is next for you?

StuartKaminsky: I've got a proposal out for a very big stand-alone novel. I've written four chapters and a 17-page outline. Both are with my agent. I've got contracts for a new Fonesca and a new Lieberman and I'm hoping more things on my desk come through.

ReadersRoom: The stand-alone sounds interesting. Can you tell us more about it?

StuartKaminsky: I wish I could. I guess I can say it is about three women who have to work together to find out who is stalking them.

ReadersRoom: Okay, our readers always wonder about writing schedules. Can you tell us a bit about yours?

StuartKaminsky: I write from the time I get home from driving my daughter to school (about 9 a.m.) till 1 p.m. I shoot for a minimum of ten pages each time I sit down. I have written as many as 34 pages in one sitting. The only mornings I don't write are those in which I have a softball game. I play doubleheaders twice a week in two leagues. It keeps me almost sane.

ReadersRoom: Well, Stuart, thank you for joining us today. Before we go, do you have anything you would like to tell your many readers?

StuartKaminsky: I am a compulsive reader and writer. I intend to keep writing as long as I have the urge and the ideas and right now I have enough ideas and enthusiasm to last about two decades. I love this job.

ReadersRoom: And your fans will be THRILLED to hear that.

StuartKaminsky: Thank you.

ReadersRoom: Stuart Kaminsky, thank you for chatting with us today.

StuartKaminsky: You are very welcome. It's been fun.




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