One of Stuart M. Kaminsky's most memorable characters, Abe Lieberman is a veteran detective who uses his head and heart more than his gun. Lieberman loves what he does and this takes a toll as his commitment to what is right is sorely tested every day on the mean streets of Chicago. As a moral man, he is sometimes faced with uncomfortable ethical choices in order to see that justice--rather than the letter of the law-is meted out.

With The Last Dark Place, Lieberman and his Irish partner Bill Hanrahan, known on the streets as the Rabbi and the Priest, have their hands full with dark matters both professional and personal.

Lieberman goes to Arizona on an extradition case to pick up a mob enforcer that goes horribly awry when the man he is slated to bring back is gunned down at the airport. He comes back from this disaster determined to find out who arranged the hit, and explain to his superiors just how he could have let this happen on his watch.

And there's the little matter of pulling off Lieberman's grandson's bar mitzvah, which threatens to bankrupt him.

While Lieberman is away, Hanrahan has his hands full. Coupled with a temporary partner who is racist, sexist and a general bane of human existence, Hanrahan has to deal with a rape case involving the young wife of a fellow police officer. Hanrahan must race to find the culprits because he knows homicidal rage when he sees it and knows that it is only a matter of time before the officer takes the law into his own hands.

And then there's a young man who dreams of being a star...or killing one to get the notoriety.