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WORK TITLE: Gumshoe for Two
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.robleininger.com/
CITY:
STATE: MT
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NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 90693432
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n90693432
HEADING: Leininger, Robert, 1946-
000 00471cz a2200145n 450
001 4452932
005 19900918161929.6
008 900914n| acannaab |n aaa
010 __ |a n 90693432
035 __ |a (DLC)n 90693432
040 __ |a DLC |c DLC |d DLC
100 10 |a Leininger, Robert, |d 1946-
670 __ |a His Killing Suki Flood, 1991: |b CIP t.p. (Robert Leininger) galley (1st novel; lives in Reno, Nev.)
670 __ |a Info. from pub. 09-18-90 |b (Robert Leininger; b. 9-13-46)
953 __ |a bc26
PERSONAL
Born September 13, 1946; married.
EDUCATION:Received degree from University of Reno.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, teacher, and mechanical engineer.
MIILITARY:United States Navy, served on USS Saint Paul (CA-73), and USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5), and in Operation Deep Freeze.
MEMBER:Tau Beta Pi, Pi Mu Epsilon, Writers Guild of America.
AWARDS:Shamus Award, Private Eye Writers of America, 2015, for Gumshoe.
WRITINGS
The novel Killing Suki Flood was adapted for film by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.
SIDELIGHTS
Rob Leininger has spent his professional years switching intermittently between writing and other lines of work. He spent his early years serving in the United States Navy, before moving on to earn his credentials in mechanical engineering. He eventually retired to turn his attention toward fiction writing. However, he made the decision to leave writing and worked as a high school mathematics teacher for twelve years. Upon his retirement from that career, he returned to writing and has remained in that career ever since.
Killing Suki Flood
Killing Suki Flood is one of Leininger’s most famous works, having been selected for a movie adaptation in the past. The novel centers around the young Suki Flood, who makes an unlikely ally in the form of Frank Limosin, a fugitive and professional operator of big rigs. Just like Frank, Suki is trying to escape from someone; however, it is not the law, but rather her violent ex-boyfriend, who has conducted quite a few shady dealings of his own.
Frank finds himself literally fighting for Suki’s safety once she is abducted by her ex’s lackeys. Together the two begin a plot to take Suki’s ex down for good, but time is short for the both of them as Suki’s ex remains persistently on their trail. In an issue of Publishers Weekly, Sybil Steinberg remarked: “Leininger’s crisp, snappy dialogue outshines his predictable plotting and inconsistent characterization.”
Gumshoe and Gumshoe for Two
Gumshoe is one of Leininger’s later works and stars Mortimer “Mort” Angel, a private eye who starts off the novel at a bit of an impasse. Prior to choosing to work as a detective, Mort experienced loss. He has given up his former career with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and his marriage to one of the highest ranking socialites in the area has dissolved. He views the chance to become a detective as a fresh start and a great new way to occupy his time. However, he soon finds himself wound up in a grisly case no one could ever have anticipated. Mort’s ex-wife discovers her new fiancé has vanished. No one is sure what has happened to him until one of his dismembered body parts is shipped off to the state of Texas. Mort is immediately identified as a potential suspect, but he may be able to spot the true culprit. A writer on the Men Reading Books blog commented: “Not sure if Mort Angel is, or will be, a continuing character, but Leininger has an enjoyable and addictive style.” On the Publishers Weekly website, one reviewer stated: “After a long and complicated buildup, the climax arrives with screaming intensity.”
Gumshoe for Two is the sequel to Gumshoe. In this book, Mort is tasked with a new case that may prove even more high stakes than his last. He is hired by Sarah Dellario, a young woman and academic prodigy who has been moonlighting as a sex worker to cover for her search for her disappeared sister. Sarah wants Mort to find out where her sister has gone and is determined to help him get to the bottom of the case. Mort receives extra help from Jeri DiFrazzia, the woman Mort originally met in the first novel, who has now become deeply entangled with him romantically. Jeri uses her personal connections as supervisor of Mort’s agency to assist him in his hunt for clues and provide him with yet another aid to help Mort crack the case. He is soon joined by Maude Clary, the woman who helped Jeri get her start within the law enforcement industry and who may be able to lend her knowledge to Mort as the case twists into something unexpected. On Bookreporter.com, L. Dean Murphy wrote: “Despite the plot peripeteia, this is a bawdily entertaining series, making Mortimer Angel my favorite go-to gumshoe.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, December 21, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of Killing Suki Flood, p. 46.
ONLINE
Bookreporter.com, https://www.bookreporter.com/ (April 7, 2017), L. Dean Murphy, review of Gumshoe for Two.
Men Reading Books, http://menreadingbooks.blogspot.com/ (October 1, 2015), review of Gumshoe: A Mortimer Angel Novel.
Oceanview Publishing Website, https://oceanviewpub.com/ (November 8, 2017), author profile.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (September 7, 2015), review of Gumshoe.
Rob Leininger Website, http://www.robleininger.com (November 8, 2017), author profile.*
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Rob Leininger graduated from Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek, California, with a grade point average of about 1.9. Then, suddenly, he grew up. Joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school and went to ETA school (Electronics Technician "A" school) on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Graduated at the head of his class, surprising everyone, but mostly himself. Assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Saint Paul, CA-73, where he sailed off the coast of Vietnam while the ship bombarded the coastal region with her 8-inch guns. Hot, sweaty place. Five minutes after a shower you feel like you need another shower. The ship's newspaper advertised for volunteers for Operation Deep Freeze, the navy's Antarctic operation. Well, sure. Can't be hot and sweaty there. So he volunteered in spite of the military axiom, "never volunteer for anything." He spent a year at the base at McMurdo, stood on the geographical South Pole (1967), put up an antenna on a roof when it was 77 below zero outside, then came home with three more years to go in the navy. Assigned to the cruiser USS Oklahoma City, CLG-5, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. More off-shore bombardment of Vietnam, went from lowly pollywog to lofty Shellback near Singapore, then "crossed over" (the Equator) two more times. Left the navy in 1971. Got a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Reno, Nevada, with a grade point average of 3.99 (what a difference it makes to "tune in" and do the work), with extra math classes. Member of Pi Mu Epsilon (national mathematics society), and Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society). Worked on Trident missile design in Salt Lake City, then "black" projects for Northrop in California. He quit engineering to write novels. "Black Sun" was published by Avon Books in 1991. "Killing Suki Flood" was published that same year. "Suki" was optioned by Warner Bros. for a movie. Sold a screenplay to New Line Cinema a few years later which made him a member of the Writers Guild of America (East). Finances (a mortgage) forced him to seek "real" employment, so he became a high school math teacher, much loved by his students, especially when he talked about googols and googolplexes, gave chapter tests, and made them memorize the quadratic formula. After 12 years of that, he retired in order to write full time. GUMSHOE, published by Oceanview Publishing, was nominated for a Shamus Award for "Best Private Eye novel of 2015" by the Private Eye Writers of America, and made the USA Today bestseller list. A sequel, GUMSHOE FOR TWO, will be published by Oceanview Publishing on April 5, 2017. A third novel in the series, GUMSHOE ON THE LOOSE, is nearing completion. Rob currently lives in northern Montana with his wife, two golden retrievers, two lab mix mutts, and a psychotic cat. The skunk that got stuck in the dryer vent hose was a bonus, untaxed by the state (so far).
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Rob Leininger
Rob Leininger
Award-winning and USA Today best-selling author Rob Leininger grew up in California before joining the Navy. He 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 on the Loose is the third novel in the best-selling Mortimer Angel Gumshoe series. Before deciding to write full-time, Leininger taught high school math in Reno, Nevada. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi—engineering honor society and of Pi Mu Epsilon—National Mathematics Society. He now lives in Eureka, Montana.
Author Website: http://www.robleininger.com/
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A CONVERSATION WITH ROB LEININGER about GUMSHOE
A CONVERSATION WITH ROB LEININGER about GUMSHOE FOR TWO
A CONVERSATION WITH ROB LEININGER about GUMSHOE ON THE LOOSE
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BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR
Gumshoe (Mortimer Angel Novel #1)
Gumshoe for Two (Mortimer Angel Novel #2)
Gumshoe on the Loose (Mortimer Angel Novel #3)
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10/5/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507258367794 1/1
Print Marked Items
Killing Suki Flood
Sybil Steinberg
Publishers Weekly.
237.51 (Dec. 21, 1990): p46.
COPYRIGHT 1990 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
KILLING SUKI FLOOD
Robert Leininger. St. Martin's/Dunne, ISBN 0-312-05453-X Middle-aged truck driver Frank Limosin is on
the lam from California police and maybe the FBI when he meets beautiful 18-year-old Suki Flood in this
often diverting, but not-quite-believable first novel. Having sold the load of ball bearings he was supposed
to deliver for $77,000, Frank heads for the New Mexico desert to hide out and plan his next move. With
misgivings, he picks up Suki, whose car has broken down, and learns that she's on the run too, from a
sadistic con-man boyfriend named Mink who has sent a few of his thugs after her. After being beaten up by
the henchmen, who take Suki to Reno, Frank hitches from the desert to an airport, rents a plane and rescues
Suki, who wants revenge. She and Frank start to gather evidence of Mink's financial misdealings, but are
recaptured by Mink, who plans to torture them both to death. The grisly climax is followed by a facile, copout
denoument. Leininger's crisp, snappy dialogue outshines his predictable plotting and inconsistent
characterization.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Steinberg, Sybil. "Killing Suki Flood." Publishers Weekly, 21 Dec. 1990, p. 46. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA9283222&it=r&asid=0ed52b63da9cce5f2608082f0ec192f4.
Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A9283222
Gumshoe for Two
by Rob Leininger
The Great Gumshoe is back! Novice private investigator Mortimer Angel --- a former “wallet wringer” for the IRS, “our nation’s Gestapo” --- returns with Jeri DiFrazzia, who is now Mort’s boss and fiancée.
Hooker Holiday Breeze again thickens the mix, but Ms. Breeze is actually Nevada university engineering student Sarah Dellario, who has an IQ higher than Reno’s hottest summer day. Sarah/Holiday is in hooker guise searching for her missing younger sibling, Allie, who indeed worked as a prostitute. As stated in the original GUMSHOE,
“You don’t gloss over that kind of weirdness.”
"A brutally shocking dénouement left me breathless and made me long for a lightning rod."
With Jeri’s blessing, Sarah (“A vamp, but not a vampire”) and Mort become a pair of gumshoes searching for Sarah’s sister --- and share a bed in a small-town Nevada hotel. Disembodied heads don’t find their way to Mort, but you have to hand it to Super Sleuth. Literally. Via FedEx, someone sends Senator Harry Reinhart’s unattached hand: “When a presidential candidate’s shaking hand turns up without the candidate, it makes for a real fine story.”
Affairs get complicated, and Jeri calls in her PI mentor, Maude “Ma” Clary: “Ma was the Big Gun. In the first minute I had her pegged as a .44 Magnum.” Ma is from the old school of private investigators, and immediately commands respect and admiration, a literary keeper sure to appear in future installments.
The plot shifts from finding Sarah’s sister to locating Senator Reinhart’s remaining body parts, especially since he couldn’t keep one of them in his pants: “Thoughts about this search for Allie were getting bulldozed off a cliff.” But Mort and Sarah --- while sharing a bed sans pajamas --- deduce that both cases are somehow related. Moreover, the objectification of Sarah grows as old as Methuselah (Genesis 5:27).
A brutally shocking dénouement left me breathless and made me long for a lightning rod. Did I read the last few chapters of another novel? The incongruous conclusion to Rob Leininger’s second installment of this otherwise lighthearted series caused me to question if Mortimer Angel has finally matured. Say it isn’t so!
Despite the plot peripeteia, this is a bawdily entertaining series, making Mortimer Angel my favorite go-to gumshoe.
Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy on April 7, 2017
Gumshoe by Rob Leininger
Mortimer Angel ("Mort, please") is early-mid 40s and is "looking at a long empty stretch of road ahead." Divorced from the gorgeous - and rich - Dallas. He quit his job as an IRS field agent. Sixteen years of scaring the liver out of people to squeeze a few quarters out of them. Drives a POS Tercel. And next week he starts his new life as a PI, working for his nephew. Reno, NV. No training. Sounded like fun. Greg, the nephew, says being a PI is not Mickey Spillane or Magnum. It's more hurry up and wait than it is, "Hey, babe."
Dallas has been seeing Jonnie Sjorgen, the current mayor of Reno. Marriage is in the not-too-distant future. Problem is that Jonnie and the Reno DA, Dave Milliken, have gone missing. Been gone for over a week. No clues. No ideas. Just gone like they were beamed up to the Enterprise.
Until Jonnie's head is delivered to Dallas. A day later, Milliken's head is delivered to the DA's office. And they weren't just decapitated. Their brains were scooped out and replaced with their . . . um . . . use your imagination. Mort is there each time and becomes a person of interest to the Reno PD. Now he's the subject of jokes on late-night monologs as the crimes go national.
And then there's that blond sleeping in his bed who left a note for him, signed it simply K. While Greg starts looking closely at Jonnie's business dealings, they sort of subcontract another PI, Jerry DiFrazzia. Make that Jeri.
After Jeri sets herself as the alpha male of the partnership, she and Mort start tracking down clues that seem to have eluded the police. And what started out as a simple disappearance works its way into a sort of 'I am my own grandfather,' like that song.
Leininger's style is to tell the story through Mort, with Mort as the smart aleck, wisecracking, self-effacing PI (think of him as a cousin to Nelson DeMille's John Corey) who, after a dry spell of a few years now has babes practically throwing themselves at him. Maybe being a PI has some advantages.At least until the perps are revealed for the final countdown. It's all business then.
Not sure if Mort Angel is, or will be, a continuing character, but Leininger has an enjoyable and addictive style. Nowhere near power rotation quality, but certainly a reasonable diversion and worthy of another adventure.
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.)