Customer Reviews

Terror Town: An Abe Lieberman Mystery (Abe Lieberman Series)

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Kaminsky is one of my favorite mystery writers. He was also one of the most prolific of American mystery writers. He kept four ongoing series alive, as well as wrote non-series novels, short-story collections & non-fiction titles. My two favorite Kaminsky series are the ones featuring Abe Lieberman & Bill Hanrahan; & Lew Fonesca. My favorite of the two series, by an inch, is the one featuring the Jewish & Irish cop partners. Happily, for me, "Terror Town" is the 9th novel in the Lieberman/Hanrahan series.
Nicknamed the Rabbi & the Priest, Lieberman & Hanrahan have been Chicago cops & partners for eons. They're like brothers. They can finish each other's sentences. They have their own table at Abe's brother's deli. Always reserved for them. Seemingly living in the deli are the alter kochers, a group of retired not just Jewish men, who apparently sit all day long in the deli arguing & kibitzing over everything in a combo of Yiddish & English (even the non-Jewish ones). I love the characters in this series.
While both cops are old enough to be grandfathers, they are both raising, or starting to raise, second families. Abe's daughter got divorced & left her two young children with her parents. Abe's wife is President of the Sisterhood of their synagogue. Bill's second wife is a Chinese-American. Iris was the intended of a Chinese mob boss. Having contended with that & settled it, in this novel, Iris is stalked by a crazed psychopath, while she is pregnant. One thinks the stalker & murderer of others in the book is a psychopath; but, there is a surprise twist at the end.
While Bill is attempting to protect his wife, Abe has enlisted the help of a Latin street gang, whose leader holds him in high esteem. When one of the gang is killed by the psychopath, it is Abe who is chosen to give his eulogy in Church. I love the way Kaminsky thinks!
Abe also has to solve the case of a religious fruitcake, who thinks he's the Second Coming of Christ. He's even gathered a flock of followers, who don't know that his father is an Orthodox Rabbi & he was raised as a Yeshiva student. Then there are other crimes in the part of Chicago called Terror Town, a totally Black populated area where Abe is matched up with a black detective & they end up having to go toe-to-toe against one of the most powerful & most beloved black business leaders in Chicago . . . for murder. As always, everything gets solved, amidst all the twists & turns & dead-ends.
Abe even has a tete-a-tete with his estranged daughter, Lisa; who finally calls him "Dad" for the first time in so many books, I can't remember when she did it last. It's heartwarming & brings tears to the regular reader's eyes.
Kaminsky had the wonderful knack of writing strong indelible characters combined with strong believable plots. His lead characters are always flawed; but, very likable.
This was another wonderful addition to my favorite Kaminsky mystery series.

Stuart M. Kaminsky had four series going last time I looked. In each he has developed a formulaic plot upon which he hangs his characters. In the hands of an Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, Rex Stout the results are generally quite pleasing since the lead characters are rich in development and the supporting players pleasantly diverse and idiosyncratic. This is true of Mr. Kaminsky as well. This series features Abe Lieberman, a Chicago police officer who is fully professional but has his own dry wit and understanding of the many "characters" with whom and in regard to whom he must act. He is most appealing, not a rebel who breaks the rules of law enforcement but rather a sort of physician-philosopher who knows how to make the law sufficiently flexible to handle the the problems of real people. As is true of two of his other series as well as this one, family plays an important role in the life of the detective, whether or not he is married. The family situation of the detective, his colleagues and the outsiders with whom he deals, are all components of the situations which Kaminsky gets his detectives into, and for which he formulates a solution, temporary or permanent, as part of the denouement of the book.
This book poses two central problems for Lieberman and his partner. Each is resolved but resolved in ways that suggest reality without being reality in fact. It is an easy and quick read, grips ones attention and leaves one satisfied. Recommended for any but the audience that seeks complex symbolism, philosophizing, or lots of sex.