Gumshoe Rock

Rob Leininger

Aug 2019 · Oceanview Publishing

About this ebook

USA Today best-selling author

"Mortimer Angel is my favorite private eye." —John Lescroart, New York Times best-selling author

Embezzlement case turns murderous

Early in July, northern Nevada's senior Internal Revenue Service agent, Ronald Soranden—disliked by every agent in the Reno IRS office—vanished without a trace. In September, he makes a dramatic reappearance, of sorts. His skull—stripped clean and white—is dropped through the slashed top of a Mustang convertible. The vehicle belongs to Lucy Landry, PI Mortimer Angel's gorgeous young assistant now working with him on a seemingly unrelated embezzlement case.

But Mort is a former IRS field agent in Reno. He'd done his time during the tyrannical reign of Soranden, quitting, he says, "when I discovered I have a soul." Now that his former boss's head has appeared, he and Lucy find them themselves under the annoying surveillance of a pair of IRS enforcement agents.

When the FBI are brought in to investigate the murder, Mort and Lucy realize shocking details about their own case—primarily Soranden's involvement. It becomes evident that events and suspects of the embezzlement case and Soranden's murder are heavily entangled with those enmeshed in an ugly case of blackmail. Mort and Lucy are roped tighter and tighter into the Soranden investigation while they grapple with the deadliest situation of their PI careers. Mortimer Angel has been in harrowing, lethal situations before and has suffered incalculable losses, but none more horrifying than the trap embedded in Gumshoe Rock.

The perfect mix of John Sanford and Carl Hiaasen

Ratings and reviews

Mortimer Angel, ex-IRS Agent and now a Private Investigator in training and his girlfriend, Lucy another PI in training have just left their favorite haunt when Lucy sees the top of her Mustang convertible is slashed. But that's not the worst thing they see. On the car seat lies a human skull and the carcasses of several giant ants ..dead, of course. Once again, Mortimer's fame as a finder of people ... usually dead... is still with him. He knows who the skull belongs to ... the senior IRS Agent in Nevada. He's a man no one has ever liked and he's been missing for several months. Working a separate embezzlement case, he also starts looking into the disappearance and apparent murder of the IRS Agent. It's only when the cases start to intertwine that Mort and Lucy are facing the most lethal situation of their lives. This is the 4th outing for Mortimer and is easily read as a stand alone. There are many references to things that happened in the first books, and I highly recommend starting at the beginning. This is well-written with lots of action involving not only the IRS but the FBI as well. Mort is a great series character with his dry sense of humor and witty dialogue. Lucy is just as much fun, as is "Ma" ... the absolute best PI in Nevada. Many thanks to the author / Oceanview Publishing / Edelweiss for the advanced digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

situational-humor, verbal-humor, private-investigators, murder, blackmail, buffoons, nevada Hilarious! The publisher's blurb is a pretty good start, but it gets more convoluted and ROFL with each page. No erotica but funny innuendos, and Mort is a heavy drinker of. ..noncaf soda. The mystery revolves around a satire on the IRS with guest appearances by a couple of cartoonish FBI agents and other caricatures. The dialog is fun, the characters certainly are, and it has a real plot! Loved it! Louis B Jack is fantastically believable as Mort who is both character and narrator in a low key, tongue in cheek way. I won this audiobook in a giveaway! I really win!

About the author

USA Today best-selling author Rob Leininger grew up in California prior to joining the Navy. Leininger served aboard heavy cruisers during the Vietnam War and also at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. He received a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and worked on Trident missiles for Hercules, and “black” defense projects for Northrop Corp. Gumshoe Rock is his fourth novel in the best-selling Mortimer Angel Gumshoe series. Leininger taught high school math for twelve years before retiring to write novels full time. He now resides in northwest Montana.