LIEBERMAN'S LAW

Abe Lieberman specializes in intractable problems, but this time he may have met his match in the vandals who desecrated four Chicago temples, including Abe's own Mir Shavot. The Arab Student Response Committee (ASRC), who spearheaded the attacks, have arranged for them to be blamed on neo-Nazi skinheads, but a chance witness photographs both a blurred figure sporting a swastika and ASRC militant Jara Mohammed outside Mir Shavot. And the ASRC's been outflanked by the Mongers, real enough skinheads who've hijacked a stolen Torah and a cache of weapons from them. As Lieberman's partner Bill Hanrahan sweats his Monger informant for news about their next move, Monger and Arab terrorists plot against each other, and incidentally against the city's Jews. Not enough action for you? Robert Kim, the Korean extortionist Lieberman's bullied into backing off local shopowners, has vowed revenge; the unheralded return of Hanrahan's grown son Mike throws the latest shadow over Hanrahan's upcoming marriage to Iris Huang; and Lieberman's family has its own little surprise in store for him. Throughout Lieberman's fifth case (Lieberman's Thief, 1995, etc.), Kaminsky lets even his wildest-eyed characters have their say on the tough issues; the effect is evenhandedly humane, never schematic. Next time, though, Kaminsky better watch the loose ends, or he'll drive this fine series into as soapy a rut as the Gideon stories.