This is the second offering about fledgling entrepreneurs James Lessor and Skip Moore and their white box truck. They made their debut in the 2007 book, Stuff to Die For (also reviewed on Myshelf), with James' first idea to make a bundle using a used truck. In Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, they're serving food for a tent revival at Oleta River Park near Miami, led by the charismatic Rev. Preston Cashdollar. And, they are making money, but James keeps losing chunks of it at the nightly poker game with the full-timers, a group of food service entrepreneurs who feed the multitudes not only at Cashdollar's six yearly revivals but also on the fair and carnival circuit.

Murders and attempted murders abound in Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, which involves a broad cast of characters, including a teenage girl rumored to be the mistress of the married Cashdollar, conservative North Dakota senator Fred Long who disapproved of the minister, and right-wing talk-show host Barry Romans who flayed the evangelist on the air. Even James and Skip are threatened, and Skip's girlfriend Em soon gets pulled into their danger.

The James and Skip adventures are a departure from Bruns’ more sophisticated mysteries around world-wise rock journalist Mick Sever. James and Skip are the Bill and Ted of entrepreneurs and their exploits are just pure fun, even though you'd like to chuck them upside the head when they keep taking risks. I had fun with this one and I'm sure Bruns did too when he was writing it. Every author should have another creative avenue to spur the creative process and the James and Skip adventures certainly fill that bill.

Bruns runs a slight risk in this mystery because the name of his errant minister is similar to a popular tele-evangelist. But Cashdollar serves Bruns as a way to comment on greed, religion, and the down side of prosperity theology.

The book that started this series, Stuff to Die For, will be out in paperback in August, and a new adventure,  Stuff to Spy For, will be out in hardcover in November.