Labor Fiction: The Lenny Moss Mysteries

When you are trying to change the world, it’s not enough to quote facts and statistics. Minds are changed and supporters are mobilized when their emotions are engaged, which is why stories of working people struggling for their fair share of society’s bounty are so important in the fight for economic and social justice. And the Lenny Moss mystery series, like all good novels, reveals the underlying truth of human relations, from the solidarity and generosity of working people to the greed and dishonesty of the corporate owners.

Lenny is a custodian and hard-charging union steward in a fictional big city hospital. The bosses are always attacking the union, from trying to decertify the union to threatening to withdraw from the health and welfare fund. Lenny responds by mobilizing a small army of workers, who march on a supervisor’s office or picket outside the hospital. When the RNs ask to join his service workers union, he guides them in the tough fight to organize the nurses.

But our wily steward has a second unusual role to fill. When a worker is arrested for murder (these are murder mysteries, after all), his friends go to their toughest steward and ask him to “save the worker.” How? He must use his organizing skills and the trust he’s developed to uncover the clues and bring the real killer to justice, thereby freeing the worker.

Praised in the labor and mainstream journals, from Labor Notes to the NY Times, the Lenny Moss mysteries inform, inspire and delight readers in and out of the labor movement. Check out all eight books, including the just-released One Foot in the Grave, available from www.hardballpress.com and booksellers everywhere.