History of Mystery Gets Groovy with THE BIG FIX

We’ll be holding our free History Of Mystery class on a special date this month – October 14th. For those not familiar with the class taught by myself and Mystery Scene contributor David Hansard, the class looks at American authors who have made their mark on crime fiction. Roger L. Simon definitely did that when he updated the private eye with The Big Fix.

Trying to get published at a house started by Rolling stone magazine, Simon created a gumshoe for his generation. He traded in the trench coat for a jean jacket, fedora for long hair, turned his bottle of bourbon into grass, and gave us Moses Wine, ex-activist, divorced with two kids, trying to find his footing in the ’70s. He proved popular enough for eight more books. Even Ross MacDonald considered it a seminal book.

Moses is lured onto a case by an ex-flame from his radical days. Hired by a progressive Senatorial candidate, he has to locate an Abby Hoffman-type activist who is endangering the campaign. The trail involves Satanists, Latino revolutionaries, and a California  quickly going from the Age Of Aquarias to The Me Generation, as Moses holds onto his detectives code as well as the one from his past. Simon gives the detective novel, particularly the LA one, a new perspective.

We’ll be meeting on the third floor, October 14th at 6pm to discuss the book. Try to come earlier at 4pm for a viewing of the film starring Richard Dreyfuss as Moses Wine with the scipt adaptation done by Roger L. Simon.

Check out the trailer from 1978:

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