Gumshoe Rock: A Mortimer Angel Novel

In Leininger’s sluggish fourth novel featuring former Nevada IRS agent turned PI Mortimer Angel (after 2018’s Gumshoe on the Loose), the skull of Mort’s missing former boss, Ronald Soranden, turns up in the vandalized Mustang of his assistant, Lucy Landry. The discovery leads to an FBI inquiry and increased scrutiny for Mort, amid a case involving an accountant who embezzled money in an attempt to pay back unpaid taxes, only to fall prey to the blackmail plot of an unscrupulous IRS agent. With Lucy’s help, Mort’s ensuing investigation to recover the missing money connects to other seemingly unrelated cases occupying their agency. Mort never misses the opportunity to ramble about generational differences as well as the government-sanctioned criminals working in the IRS. The relationship between Mort and Lucy functions as wish fulfillment, robbing her of agency as well as necessity to the story. The convoluted buildup, meanwhile, supersedes the effort to construct a dramatically satisfying mystery. Those who prefer an antiquated take on the hard-boiled genre will best appreciate this one. [em](Aug.) [/em]