ROGER L. SIMON – Peking Duck. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1979. Detective Book Club, hardcover reprint, 3-in-1 volume, Sept-Oct 1979; Warner, paperback, September 1987; I Books, trade pb, November 2000.

   Unable to reconcile his past with his new Porsche, private eye and former SDS member Moses Wine feels that his life is drifting. When his Aunt Sonya is named to lead a group of friendship delegates on a tour of China, he agrees that it’s the kind of pilgrimage he needs to come to grips with himself.

   There could hardly be a greater contradiction in terms than to have a PI plying his trade in the modern-day land of regimentation, but it seems they have their “bad elements” even there. The tour is finally stopped in Peking when a priceless jade duck mysteriously disappears, and the entire roster of fellow travelers is placed under suspicion.

   Detective fans will undoubtedly find the subsequent version of an English drawing room mystery amusing, and certainly more palatable than what follows, with Wine forced to defend himself a la Perry Mason in a convincingly hostile People’s Court, with all of the excessive intrigue blamed on the recently overthrown Gang of Four, at least indirectly.

Note:   Previously reviewed by me on this blog was California Roll. You can find my comments here, along with a lengthy list of the Moses Wine novels.