Gumshoe In The Dark by Rob Leininger (2021)_ Every so often, a book's description on its inside flap has us at hello......and we grab it on impulse.....
We're not sorry we did that with this one. There was more than enough in this Private Eye thriller to keep us intrigued and entertained.......
But ultimately, its incredible amount of sheer repetition and overlength began to wear us out.
We even stuck with it when we realized it was the 5th book in a series.......and spends way, way too much verbiage describing the hero's previous adventures, so it barely qualifies as a stand-alone reading experience.
Our other big problem with it was the numbing overkill devoted to the back-and-forth witty repartee between our P.I. and the women in his life........an ultra-sexy young schoolteacher who's ensnared in a murder-blackmail-conspiracy plot and the P.I.'s ultra-sexy young wife......(yes, they seem to come across as virtually identical characters....)
We bow to nobody in our enormous love of snappy repartee....(we'll take it over long, descriptive passages every time.)
But author Rob Leininger drags out the playful verbal ping pong to almost unendurable lengths, way past the point where any of it's amusing or purposeful. To be blunt, he's not as funny as he thinks he is, and neither are his characters. (It started to remind us those Ace Atkins continuations of Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series where he sometimes tiresomely overwrites imitations of Spenser's famous, zippy one-liners)
Having gotten all that off our chest, we will say that if you love quirky Private Eyes who stumble into even odder, memorable adventures, than Nevada P.I. Mortimer Angel is the guy for you.
After befriending that aforementioned hot babe schoolteacher (even after she tried to steal his car at gunpoint), Mortimer finds the body of her mom, Nevada's Attorney General, in the trunk of a car. This all leads our P.I., the perpetually short-skirted teacher and the P.I.'s equally babe-ish wife to some violent, frightening encounters with a trio of psychotic thug-torturers.
Oh yes.....we may have forgotten to mention that Mortimer Angel, in previous capers, has become notorious for discovering assorted body parts of murder victims. (But don't worry, the author will constantly remind you of this throughout the book, which might be a good reason to start this series at the beginning.....unlike us.)
A mixed bag for sure. Even if the endless yada-yada-yada between the characters tried our patience, we can't say we were ever bored. You'll find some genuine fun here, along with down-and-dirty, brutal private eye action and a more than satisfying wrap-up. 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)
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