Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Don Bruns' second book in a series, STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF, features the characters of James Lessor and Skip Moore — his versions of the grown-up Hardy Boys. After reading this book, I have to totally agree ... I mean, if the Hardy Boys had a body count and con artists as friends. The book could have easily have been called THE HARDY BOYS MEET AT THE SINNER'S CROSSROADS, since we find our two heroes setting up shop at a revival meeting, using their white box truck converted into a burger stand on wheels. With all of the action taking place at this one location, it definitely gives off the Hardy Boys vibe, with one being a bit more adventurous than the other, but both determined to figure out what is going on. The case they are trying to figure out happened years ago at the same revival meeting, where a young girl that turned up dead. It was rumored that she was the good Rev. Preston Cashdollar's mistress. But before you can say "gimme that ol' time religion," we find Lessor and Moore in more trouble than they bargained for, especially from the permanent crew who operate at all the reverend's revivals, just by asking a few questions at what seems to be a friendly poker game after all the rubes go home. These questions have to deal with the dead girl and the reverend's connection to the shooting of a senator. First, they are told to mind their own business, but you know that will not happen. So when they find their money missing and all four tires flattened by gunshot, these two think they are on to something much bigger. They're right, finding out that a vendor was found dead a previous year by a drug overdose, even though he was a total teetotaler. This is something the Hardy Boys would never have stumbled upon, but Lessor and Moore aren't quite the Hardys; they're more like a tribute to that bygone era of crime books. Things get a lot stickier before it's all said and done, including a few more bodies that turn up. Bruns' writing is sharp, concise and fun, using his two characters to riff about how DISTURBIA was a total rip-off of REAR WINDOW, to the constant quoting of other films most readers will be associated with. Even for a book that is second in a series, it never leaves a new reader lost with backstory. Things are explained to as they come up, without ruining the first book (STUFF TO DIE FOR). STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF is no groundbreaker in the genre, but it never tries to be. It's a just fun and enjoyable story set upon the backdrop of evangelists and carny folk — in other words, a ton of fun for mystery fans who wish that Edward Stratemeyer was still writing these days. —Bruce Grossman Buy it at Amazon.

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