Vengeance, Stuart M. Kaminsky
Vengeance, Stuart M. Kaminsky
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Vengeance

Author: Stuart M. Kaminsky

Narrator: Scott Brick

Unabridged: 9 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2001


Synopsis

After the death of his wife, a grieving Lew Fonesca drives from Chicago until his car gives out in the parking lot of a Sarasota, Florida, Dairy Queen. Trying to avoid his emotions and rebuild his life, he takes up work as a freelance process server. One of the attorneys he works for gives him his first case: A local entrepreneur’s trophy wife has gone missing, and Fonesca must locate her. At the same time, a mother comes to him for help locating her runaway underage daughter, whom she fears has been sold into vice. Both cases are more complex than they seem, and Fonesca is kept in plenty of danger. Nonetheless, with a colorful bunch of secondary characters to help him, he'll solve both of them.

“Staked with vivid characters and plenty of local color.”—New York Times

About The Author

Stuart M. Kaminsky (1934–2009) was one of the most prolific crime fiction authors of the last four decades. Born in Chicago, he spent his youth immersed in pulp fiction and classic cinema—two forms of popular entertainment which he would make his life’s work. After college and a stint in the army, Kaminsky wrote film criticism and biographies of the great actors and directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In 1977, when a planned biography of Charlton Heston fell through, Kaminsky wrote Bullet for a Star, his first Toby Peters novel, beginning a fiction career that would last the rest of his life.Kaminsky penned twenty-four novels starring the detective, whom he described as “the anti-Philip Marlowe.” In 1981’s Death of a Dissident, Kaminsky debuted Moscow police detective Porfiry Rostnikov, whose stories were praised for their accurate depiction of Soviet life. His other two series starred Abe Lieberman, a hardened Chicago cop, and Lew Fonseca, a process server. In all, Kaminsky wrote more than sixty novels. He died in St. Louis in 2009.Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. His stage appearances throughout the US include CyranoHamlet, and MacBeth. In the audio industry, Scott has won over 20 Earphones Awards, as well as the 2003 Audie Award in the Best Science Fiction category for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. After recording nearly 250 books in five years, AudioFile Magazine named Scott “one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy” and proclaimed him one of their Golden Voices. Brick’s range is unparalleled as he reads thrillers to narrative nonfiction, from biographies to science fiction with aplomb.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Johnny on October 27, 2011

Koko the Clown doesn’t appear in this opening salvo in a mystery series from Stuart M. Kaminsky, a short series following a “process server” named Lew Fonesca that was scribed a decade before Kaminsky died. My favorite series by Kaminsky is his light-hearted one featuring Toby Peters – ‘30s and ‘40s......more

Goodreads review by Michael on October 04, 2020

Well, I never thought I'd read a mystery with a process server as protagonist, yet here I am. Vengeance, by the prolific Stuart Kaminsky, has competence written all over it. Competent writing, competent plot, good dialogue, and a nice wrap-up. It's apparently the first in a series based on the adven......more

Goodreads review by David on August 28, 2017

After reading a couple of disappointing series detective stories, this one was a pleasant surprise. I'm only the 225th person to rate this book, a stunningly low number for an Edgar winner. I read the first two books from this author's Toby Peters series, a fun but rather mediocre look at a detectiv......more

Goodreads review by Helen on October 07, 2020

This is first in a great series. Masterfully written with memorable characters this series touches the reader because of the universal themes-- loneliness , search for meaning, friendship, and courage to start over. I really like this author and this series. It might not seem that anyone is heroic o......more

Goodreads review by Stef on June 25, 2020

Stuart Kaminsky was a master of the contemporary gun show story. He taught at Northwestern and when he retired to Florida, he took a faculty spot at FSU. I have always enjoyed his leads: Lee Fonseca, process server in Sarasota; Porifory Rostinkov, Moscow chief inspector; And Lieberman, Chicago homic......more