Stuart Kaminsky -- Dead Don't Lie

Stuart Kaminsky: Dead Don't Lie 

Born September 29, 1934, in Chicago, IL; died October 9, 2009, in St. Louis, MO;  

Novelist and screenwriter. University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, science writer, 1962-64; University of Illinois--Chicago, medical writer, 1965-68; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, editor of news service, 1968-69; University of Chicago, director of public relations and assistant to the vice president for public affairs, 1969-72; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, assistant professor, 1973-75, associate professor of speech, 1975-79, professor of radio, television, and film and head of film division, 1979-89; Florida State University, Sarasota, FL, founding director of Graduate Film Conservatory, 1989-94. Chicago Film Festival, chair, 1972-74, board member, 1974-75; member of film and creative arts panel, Illinois Arts Council, beginning 1978; consultant, National Endowment for the Humanities. Contributor, Nero Wolfe series, A&E Network

Sidelights:

Stuart M. Kaminsky was an author of numerous mysteries and the creator of four distinct series sleuths: World War II-era Toby Peters, Chicago-based Abraham Lieberman, Russian police inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, and Florida private investigator Lew Fonesca. Additionally, Kaminsky penned novels based on the popular Rockford Files television show. A former film scholar who helped found Florida State University's Graduate Film Conservatory, Kaminsky devoted himself to mystery writing full time for many years--and with unqualified success. A Publishers Weekly reviewer once commented: "One of the most prolific mystery writers working today, Kaminsky is also one of the best." The recipient of the 2006 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, Kaminsky had also been dubbed "the pre-eminent living writer of police procedurals," by a Kirkus Reviews critic.

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Abe Lieberman Series (1991)

The windy city, with its diverse cultural, economic, and political domains, provides the backdrop for this series about a Jewish police lieutenant and his Catholic partner. Abraham Lieberman, called Abe by his family and friends and "Rabbi" by his partner, Bill Hanrahan, is a police lieutenant on the Chicago police force. At 60-something, Lieberman has a reputation as a fair, honest cop. As important as his career is, however, nothing compares to the deep ties he has to his Jewish roots and his complete devotion to his wife Bess and the rest of his family. Instrumental in helping Lieberman solve crime is his long-term partner, Bill Hanrahan, affectionately referred to by Lieberman as "Father Murphy." Hanrahan has fought his own demons in the form of alcoholism and divorce, but with the support of Lieberman and a local priest named Sam "Whiz" Parker, Hanrahan works on keeping his life in balance.

In Stuart M. Kaminsky's The Dead Don't Lie: An Abe Lieberman Mystery, Detective Lieberman investigates killings associated with a journal containing historically important information. Lieberman and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, usually work on cases together and enjoy joking with one another. In this novel, however, the two spend more time apart, as Hanrahan is working on his own case in which foolish robbers get themselves involved in a crime larger than they originally intended. The men have more time to face their personal problems, as Lieberman is getting older and getting ready for retirement and Hanrahan is struggling with alcoholism. On the job, the detectives deal with more social problems, as they work in a multicultural Chicago neighborhood, and are themselves part of this varied community. Jewish Lieberman and Irish Hanrahan run into stereotypes, which also involve Hanrahan's Chinese wife. Racial and ethnic conflicts are a common theme in the story, as Lieberman's case concerns Turkish and Armenian clashes. In the middle of all the conflicts, the good spirits of the detectives keep the story upbeat and lively.

Lieberman's folly    (1991)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 1

Summary: When a prostitute informer asks Abe Lieberman, a veteran Chicago police detective, and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, for protection, the case leads to a ten-year-old murder

Lieberman's folly .   (1991)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 2

Summary: Pushed to the breaking point by the sleaziness of Chicago's back alleys and side streets, Bernie Shepard, an honest cop, kills his wife and fellow officer and barricades himself in a concrete blockade on top of a high-rise.

Lieberman's day  (1994)      Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 3

Summary: Aging Chicago detective Abe Lieberman investigates muggers who killed his nephew and wounded the nephew's pregnant wife. As so often happens in police work, to catch a criminal one has to make a deal with another, in this case a violent drug dealer.

Lieberman's thief  (1995)    Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 4

Summary: In Chicago, a burglar sees a husband kill his wife. So the husband calls the police and says his wife was murdered by a burglar. Sergeant Abe Lieberman is given the job of finding the burglar, now in hiding.

Lieberman's law  (1996)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 5

Summary: Chicago police detective Abe Lieberman investigates the vandalizing of his neighborhood temple and finds that the incident may shatter his own private world.

The big silence: an Abe Lieberman mystery  (2000) Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 6

Summary: Abe Lieberman and his Irish partner, Bill Hanrahan, investigate the kidnapping of a government witness supposedly shielded under the federal witness protection program.

Not quite kosher: an Abe Lieberman mystery  (2002)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 7

Summary: Chicago detective Abe Lieberman faces such challenges as a pair of low-rent thieves, a man who predicted his own death, his grandson's pricey bar mitzvah, and his partner's rivalry with an Asian kingpin.

The last dark place: an Abe Lieberman mystery  (2004)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 8

Summary: When the target of an extradition case in Arizona is gunned down, detective Abe Lieberman pursues the killer's identity, while priest Bill Hanrahan struggles with a racist and sexist colleague who thwarts a rape investigation.

Terror town: an Abe Lieberman mystery  (2006)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 9

Summary: Detective Abe Lieberman works to discover a common link between a baseball player whose career has been cut short by tragedy, a religious fanatic who employs unorthodox conversion methods, and a murdered single mother.

The dead don't lie: an Abe Lieberman mystery  (2007)  Series: Abe Lieberman mysteries, 10

Summary: When three prominent members of Chicago's Turkish community are brutally murdered, veteran cop Abe Lieberman and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, connect the killings to a century-old event, in a case with ties to the beating of a chef. 

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A Beer at a Bawdy House - David J. Walker

OTHER MYSTERIES.... 

"TOBY PETERS" SERIES (1977 - 2004)

"INSPECTOR ROSTNIKOV" SERIES (1981 - 2008)

Summary: (First book in series) When a world-famous dissident is murdered--an act that has embarrassing political overtones for the Soviet government--the KGB is willing to frame anyone for his murder, and Moscow Police Inspector Rostnikov races to find the real killer.

"ROCKFORD FILES" SERIES (1996 - 1998)

Summary: (First book in series) A classic Rockford case involves retrieving stolen property, locating a cat for an eccentric old lady, thugs out to rearrange Rockford's anatomy, and a hunt that turns deadly when a beautiful woman in search of Hollywood fame turns up missing.

"LEW FONSECA MYSTERY" SERIES (1999 - 2006)

Summary: (First book in series) The painful past resurfaces for investigator Lew Fonesca when he agrees to check into the disappearance of a client's wife.

MYSTERY NOVELS

• When the Dark Man Calls (also see below), St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1983.
• Exercise in Terror, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1985.
• Dead of Winter, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2005.
• Deluge, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Gale Database: What Do I Read Next?, 2010