cover image Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Don Bruns, . . Oceanview, $24.95 (292pp) ISBN 978-1-933515-16-8

At the start of Bruns's talky second mystery to feature best friends Skip Moore and James Lessor (after 2007's Stuff to Die For ), the pair decide to make a buck by serving food to the attendees of a tent revival at Oleta River Park near Miami, Fla., led by charismatic Rev. Preston Cashdollar. Once on the job, Skip and James realize certain people associated with Cashdollar have met untimely ends. Particularly disturbing are two unsolved murders—that of Cabrina Washington, an African-American teen rumored to have had an affair with the married minister, and that of Fred Long, a conservative U.S. senator from North Dakota who angered Cashdollar. After Barry Romans, a right-wing talk-show host critical of Cashdollar, is shot, Skip and James turn amateur sleuths. Likable protagonists compensate in part for the thin, improbable plot. (Sept.)