Gumshoe: A Mortimer Angel Novel

At the start of this complex, seductive thriller from Leininger (Killing Suki Flood), Mort Angel has quit a dead-end job as an IRS agent and is about to embark on a new career as a PI trainee in Reno, Nev. Meanwhile, Mort’s ex-wife has been heating the sheets with Reno’s mayor, but the mayor has mysteriously disappeared along with the city’s DA, and Angel’s first assignment is to hunt down the two missing politicians. What looks like a straightforward hard-boiled tale takes one surprising turn after another, propelled by Mort’s snappy narrative voice and wry observations. While Mort’s astonishing success in the romance department is more than slightly far-fetched, Leininger keeps the action rolling fast enough to keep any willing reader turning the pages. Eventually, Mort unravels a family history that would make Ross Macdonald proud. There’s no violence and very little gore for most of the novel, but after a long and complicated buildup, the climax arrives with screaming intensity. (Nov.)