Once a cop in Chicago, Joe Kozmarski now spends his days as
a private investigator. Judge Rifkin, considered a great
family friend until he betrayed Joe's father, calls Joe and
invites him to his house with the pretense of a fishing
trip. Joe knows full well the judge has an ulterior motive,
although he does agree to meet with the judge, if only
because they were once close.
Bob Piedras works for the judge. Bob is suspected of
murdering his girlfriend, an Asian beauty who likes to pose
provocatively in front of cameras. The judge wants Joe to
find the real killer. He agrees to take the case, which is
anything but simple.
The murdered girlfriend's brothers are thugs who trail Joe
and rough him up, hoping he'll tell them where Bob is
hiding out. Joe's mother dumps his 11-year-old nephew on
him right when the investigation is getting tricky. To add
salt to injury, Joe's ex-wife might want to let him back
into her life, but doesn't want kids, and Joe's female
police partner in the search is looking pretty good to him.
Then the judge is murdered and Bob has disappeared.
Evidence is piling up to make Bob look more than guilty for
more than one murder.
Michael Wiley's debut, THE LAST STRIPTEASE, is an
enjoyable, fast-moving whodunit that is sure to entertain.
In his impressive and confident debut, Michael Wiley
delivers a thrilling tale about how greed and revenge play
out on the streets of Chicago.
Private eye Joe Kozmarski has just been asked to clear his
childhood friend Bob Piedras of murder. Bob’s latest
girlfriend, a young Vietnamese-American beauty, has turned
up dead in an airport hotel. No one’s very surprised. She
had a taste for hard liquor, drugs, and stripping in front
of a camera. And Bob has a history of violence. But Bob's
boss, retired judge Peter Rifkin, is convinced Bob is
innocent and he thinks Joe is the one to find the real
killer.
But Joe’s life is complicated. He hasn't spoken to Rifkin
for fifteen years---ever since his father, now dead, found
out that the judge had double-crossed him. The dead
woman’s brothers, a pair of tough guys, are bent on being
the first to find and punish her murderer. On top of that,
Joe and his wife have separated and his mother has dropped
his eleven-year-old nephew on him. But the more obstacles
Joe encounters, the more determined he becomes to see this
case through.