Gumshoe Rock by Rob Leininger

Mort has been in the uncomfortable position of receiving body parts of dead people.  The cases have settled down now and he's looking into an embezzlement case.  That should be safe enough but it's not.  The boss at the local IRS office has gone missing.  He knows this because his replacement had to brag to him about it.  As they ask questions about the embezzlement case and return to Lucy's car, there is a skull on the driver's seat.  It's bare bone, has some dead monster ants on it, and he can tell that's his old IRS boss.  Once again he's in the limelight as a finder of lost body parts...

Oceanview Publishing and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published August 6th.

This story is like the detectives of the '50's.  Mort defends himself well, his lady sidekick is someone he loves, and their investigation is tough.  They have an older female as part of the team.  She's called Ma and she has lots of connections as well as illegal activity tricks.  Together, they solve things.

It seem the man who embezzled the money was blackmailed by the dead IRS agent.  Checking the IRS agent out leads to several bank accounts with various names.  He wasn't just blackmailing one individual.

Mort ends up in a fight with a man with a knife.  He wins but he's made a dangerous enemy.

The reason the IRS man was killed is ridiculous.  Mort and Lucy find themselves in the hands of the killers.  It's a fight to the very end...