#2 in the Mortimer Angel saga.

Mort is still trying to become a PI after dumping his career as an IRS agent. As in the initial book (Gumshoe), Mort is divorced, drinks too much, hangs out at the Reno casinos, sort of stumbles into a knack for attracting women, cracks shit on anyone who unlucky enough to exchange two sentences with him, and constantly belittles his lack of PI street cred.

He has to put in a ton of ‘internship’ hours to get a Nevada PI license. Tracking cheaters is a bogus assignment, but you do what you gotta do. The Reno mayor’s wife thinks her hubby is running around on her. Mort tracks the mayor to his paramour’s bed, which turns out to be Mort’s ex-wife. Then the mayor disappears. Then the Reno DA disappears. A basic case of a husband cheating morphs into a missing person’s case that takes one bizarre turn after another. But that doesn’t interfere with his luck with the women.
While trying to track down the mayor and the DA is a monotonous series of

(bizarre) steps, when the solution to the disappearances becomes apparent, the plodding and complicate nature of the investigation takes a violent and intense finale. The result being that Mort becomes a media darling, something that PIs in training just don’t get.

Mortimer Angel is who most readers would like to be: smart, sarcastic (to the nth degree), self-deprecating, and a killer with the women. The story is sort of complicated, but not hard to follow. And I doubt any reader will find fault with the dialogue. We all should have his wit. A terrific break from the ordinary crime procedural. Could be a standalone, but if you have the option, read Gumshoe first.

Leininger is a truly under appreciated writer. His "Killing Suki Flood" is one of my favorite crime novels of all time and very few people have read or even heard about it. In Gumshoe for Two Leininger shines--with his wry comedic writing and mastery of the P.I. Genre. Read it.

Former IRS agent turned PI-in-training, Mortimer Angel, is approached by a beautiful hooker named Holiday Breeze at a Reno casino bar. But it turns out Holliday is really college engineering student Sarah Dellario who is looking for her missing younger sister Allie. While in the bar with Mort, Holiday gets an unexpected phone call from Allie, who says she's in Gerlach, a small town in Nevada but the call is cut off. Holiday hires Mort on the spot, dragging him off on a wild goose chase to Gerlach. A gruesome FedEx package is sent to Mort. Then Mort finds a connection between Allie and US Senator Harry "Liar" Reinhart, a presidential candidate who vanished without a trace, and a distinctive Mercedes SUV being driven by a mystery woman. With the help of his girlfriend mentor Jeri and her PI mentor Ma Cleary, Mort tries to ID the owner of the SUV and any trace of Allie.

The three-way gifting intimacy between Mort, Sarah/Holliday and Jeri does not really work. There were some unexpected turns in the story which ends up devastating Mort. It takes a while, but he gets his revenge in the end.

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Not sure about this book... strange and the story was slow going, I could not get into the character.

Gumshoe for Two by Rob Leininger

3 stars

Mort Angel; a private investigator in training.

Ex-IRS agent Mort Angel is training as a PI when he is approached by a hooker in a casino bar in Reno. The ‘hooker’ is really an engineering student who is searching for her sister. While they are talking her sister rings and the hunt is on to find Allie if she is still alive.

Only 3 stars? That’s because I found this book a bit of a run of the mill PI story. Mort is quite amusing but I was bogged down by the author’s obsession with Holiday’s (the hooker) flimsy outfits and whether it is ok with Mort’s girlfriend for him to look at her and sleep with her as long as they don’t have sex. It was quite bizarre and had absolutely nothing to do with the story.

The ending was quite good with a bit of a surprise, and the writing was ok but the story was weak and had a lot of padding. Personally, I think it might have been better as a novella.

Helen

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Sarah has asked Mort Angel to help her find her sister who she is afraid is in trouble and needs her help. His finance, Jeri is gone to a competition so he thinks he has the time to help her. They go to where they think she was last. That is the start of the search and this search becomes more than they were prepared to handle. Jeri returns and is drawn in too. A presidential candidate is missing, these could not be connected, could they? Lots of humor but sadness as well. Story takes place in Reno and the northwest areas of Nevada with some trips ot Bend, Oregon thrown in.

GUMSHOE FOR TWO is a romp and then some. Fast moving with a cast that quirky doesn't quite cover and plot twists you will never see coming. Mort and Jeri are lovers; she a real PI, he one in training. When he receives the hand of US Senator and Presidential candidate Harold Reinhart without the "honest" Senator attached, they are off and running. Enter Sarah, the insanely beautiful young lady who is looking for her missing sister. Oh, and Sarah's alter-ego quasi-hooker Holiday. This trio--Mort, Jeri, and Sarah/Holiday--have an odd relationship---of relationship is the right word. This story will keep you reading and you will laugh out loud. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed The Girl Who Was Taken . While The Girl Who Was Taken moves at a slow pace in the beginning, the tension grows and evolves into a fast-paced, thrilling read with a surprising twist that I didn’t see coming!

This is a story about two girls who are abducted in Emerson, North Carolina. High school seniors, Nic Cutty and Megan McDonald have been abducted. Megan escapes her captors and becomes a national hero, while Nic’s case goes unresolved. Nic’s sister Liv, a forensic pathology fellow, uses her skills to slowly begin to unravel the clues that leads her to discover the twisted details behind the girls’ abductions.

Similar to Summit Lake, the narrative switches between alternating POV’s and timelines.
I was surprised by the reveal, as I got taken in by some of the “clues.” The ending left me hanging, but hopefully will be resolved in the next book. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Good book, lots of plot twists and excellent characters. There is humor, suspense and angst. All of the necessary ingredients to keep you reading well in to the night.

This book offers a fun and engrossing mystery with a most compelling love story. Each of the characters is unique and richly drawn. The interplay between the characters is tantalizing as a neophyte private eye deals with too many beautiful women and a mystery that seems to tie two separate investigations together. The book carries the reader through a mixture of emotions as the story provides a number of surprises and reaches a completely unforeseen conclusion. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say you won't be disappointed

Gumshoe for 2
By Rob Leininger

Reviewed by Heath Henwood

4 Stars

Enthralling Detective Mystery

Private Investigator in training, Mort Angel is a former tax inspector, turned private detective with a habit of finding people, particularly parts of people.

His mentor, boss and lover, PI Jeri DiFrazzia guides his stumbling steps as he learns the ropes of being an investigator and tries to understand women.

The plot flows well, with a few twists and a climax that shocks. The characters are well developed, with their own peculiar quirks.

Leininger has an easy to read style, that just seems to flow for the reader.

An enjoyable PI read, than entices the reader back for more. I am looking forward to the next Mort Angel book.

I hate to write bad reviews, but I did not like this book at all. I found the writing and characters simplistic, and the plot meandering and unbelievable. The author must be indulging his fantasy of being irresistible to women because apparently not one woman breathing can resist the charms of good old Mort. It felt like I was eavesdropping on male locker-room talk. I didn't like his snarky comments either. Humorous? Not so much. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the book. Just a total mismatch for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book. I'm sorry that it didn't appeal to me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for an advance copy of Gumshoe For Two, the second novel in the Reno based Mort Angel PI series.

Mort is training to be a PI, under the expert tutelage of his new fiancée, Jeri DiFrazzia, but at 600 of the required 10,000 hours in he is still learning, never more when hooker Holiday Breeze asks him to jump in her car with her and drive to Gerlach. With Jeri out of town he makes the executive decision to take the business but all is not as it seems because Holiday is really Sarah, a civil engineering student who has been searching for months for her missing sister, Allie who has just called her from Gerlach. This is just the start of Mort's problems because when he opens the Fed-Ex parcel he thought was from his mother he finds the hand of missing presidential hopeful Harry Reinhardt.

Gumshoe For Two is a very entertaining read. It has a good plot and some excellent humour which kept me chortling throughout. There is also some sadness which is sensitively handled and quite moving in its understatedness.

The novel is driven by "don't call me Mortimer"'s character. At the age of 41 he decided on a career change from IRS agent to PI as socially the IRS thing wasn't working and it seems to have done the trick. He has a hot fiancée and other women coming on to him but he's a one woman guy so the attention is a bit bothersome. It may not be totally PC but it is funny. He is also self deprecating and smarter than he gives himself credit for.

It is an ironical take on the hard boiled genre with a slightly bumbling protagonist but a damn fine plot with plenty of twists and turns and a befittingly hard nosed baddie. It kept me glued to the pages.

I love Mort and his investigations so I have no hesitation in recommending Gumshoe For Two as an excellent read.