REVIEW ESSAY Lenny Moss Mystery Series Helena Worthen The Lenny Moss mystery series, by critical care nurse Tim Sheard, includes (so far) six character-driven books that show the inside of the health- care system from the point of view of a custodian, Lenny Moss, who also happens to be the union steward and the guy you want to have around when things start to get complicated. We hear a lot about the impact of the for-profit system on patients, but this is about what it is like to work there. We meet literally dozens of people who do, some of whom become our vivid long-term friends. Sheard’s writing is fast and utterly concrete: although readers may be tempted to draw lessons from his narratives (as I do), they will never escape close-up exposure to the sounds and smells of Seven South, Lenny’s floor, or, for that matter, the kitchens, laundry, intensive care unit (ICU), stairwells, basement tunnels, and morgue. As a labor educator, I have recommended these books to people who want to see what a really good union steward looks like. As a reader, I have enjoyed finding someone who finally dramatizes the inves- tigations and conflicts that go with trying to defend workers in an increasingly savage economy. The Six Lenny Moss Mysteries The six books (so far) that make up the Lenny Moss novels have, as their main character, a custodian at a major hospital in downtown Philadelphia. He is a schlumpy guy with a bald spot, glasses, and bushy eyebrows. To most people, he is invisible. He’s got a broom closet to work out of, a mop, and some plastic cones that he uses to block off a room when there is disgusting stuff on the floor or evidence of a crime that needs looking at before the police arrive. Because he is invisible, he can go anywhere. He is also the union guy, not the paid staffer but the onsite steward. His coworkers bring him news, ask him for help, and give him warnings. If there is a problem, they expect him to do something about it. The problems they bring him are workplace problems, typical of things a union steward has to deal with, but they also intersect with the overarching contradictions of the for-profit healthcare system. Fixing the problem on one WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society · 1089-7011 · Volume 17 · March 2014 · pp. 105–113 © 2014 Immanuel Ness and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.