A Moses Wine mystery
3 total works
A guided tour of the People's Republic, Aunt Sonya had said: U.S.-China Friendship Study Tour Number Five, arranged by the China Friendship Society, an organization in which she was involved. Why "not" get away from it all? Moses Wine figured. At least it would get him away from personal injury cases, murder investigations, and the insistent feeling that boredom and alienation were about to become his constant companions in his middle age. But China has a way of springing surprises, and soon California's hippest ex-radical detective is chasing down the priceless Han Dynasty Peking Duck, falling for a gorgeous dragon lady in a Mao suit -- and fighting for his life across a vast, mysterious land he barely knows...
"Wine is the latest in an unbroken line of popular private eyes?molded by Dashiell Hammett in the ?20s, psychoanalyzed by Ross Macdonald in the ?50s and ?60s and now dragged kicking and screaming by Simon to face a new decade's cultural crunch . . . Here, obviously, is a mystery writer to reckon with. And a private eye Los Angeles can be proud to call its very own." Los Angeles Times Book Review A year has passed since Moses Wine solved his first major case in The Big Fix, and with it has come a certain amount of celebrity: articles about him and interviews with him have appeared in Newsweek and Esquire. He's even made the cover of Rolling Stone. None of that, however, means squat to guerilla journalist Dr. Gunther Thomas, who shows up at Moses? front door with a challenge: to clear bestselling author Jock Hecht of the murder of ABC anchorwoman Deborah Frank; Thomas, meanwhile, will document the investigation for Rolling Stone. But then the proverbial monkey wrench is thrown into the works when Hecht dies. Of course, there are always a few people Moses rubs the wrong way?like an old gangster named Meyer Greenglass, who seems to be pulling a lot of strings from his prison cell on Terminal Island. Not to mention a group of angry Cuban exiles who constantly trail the private eye on his search for clues. And what in the world is the Sexual Liberation League, and what connection does it have with Hecht's last book?a study of sexual mores in America? Waist-deep in questions that seem to have no answers, Moses must find a way to solve the unsolvable without further weakening the frail relationship he has with his two sons . . . or being portrayed as a jerk in a nationalmagazine.
Moses Wine is bored and depressed. Unfortunately, his shrink's idea of helping him is to get him involved in a case. One member of the country's most popular comedy team has jumped off a roof to his death. His wife denies it was suicide, and Moses must follow the clues from LA to the South Bronx.