The guys James Lessor and Skip Moore have come a long way from their moving truck days of Stuff To Die For (reviewed here) in a highly entertaining series of books. The jobs are better, but money is still a huge issue. In this seventh and most recent book in the series published last December, REEL STUFF: A LESSOR AND MOORE MYSTERY, they continue to run a private investigation company and Skip sells security systems. The guys they still have the knack for being in the wrong place at the right time.

The job should be relatively easy. They are providing additional private security on the set of a television series called Deadline Miami. Famous actor Jason Londell is doing a guest appearance for one episode before going back to work on two movies out in California. He likes to do his own stunts and at least one is planned for the television show. This particular stunt calls for Jason run along a narrow platform and then jump off and land on the tethered inflated airbag fifty feet below.

Unfortunately, something goes tragically wrong this hot Miami morning and Jason Londell dies under the watchful eyes of the production crew, a few bystanders, and Skip Moore. Skip knows what he saw and is convinced it was a horrible accident. But, Jason's actress girlfriend, Ashley Amber, is convinced he was murdered. Not only was Jason worried about the stunt according to Ashley he was also getting threatening emails. She wants Skip and James to investigate and is willing to pay the bucks as she believes Jason's agent was behind it all. James insists they take the case as, like always, they seriously need the money. Before too long it becomes clear that it was no simple accident in a case that will lead them back and forth across country to ferret out those responsible in this twisted read.

Occasionally funny and always moving forward at a steady pace, REEL STUFF: A LESSOR AND MOORE MYSTERY puts Skip and James as well as the smart and beautiful Em in the thick of it as they try to put the pieces in a shifting case together. While the trio makes mistakes they also do a lot of things right in a tale that ends in a showdown with their very lives at stake. One knows going in that the trio will survive to investigate again another day. The real question is how they will do that and the answer results in a very entertaining read from start to finish.

REEL STUFF: A LESSOR AND MOORE MYSTERY
Don Bruns
http://www.donbrunsbooks.com
Oceanview Publishing
http://www.oceanviewpub.com
ISBN# 978-1-60809-096-9
December 2013
ARC (hardback and e-book available)
295 Pages
$26.95

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
Book Reviews and More http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/ ( )

Don Bruns’s new entry in his Stuff series that covers the adventures of low-rent private eyes Skip Moore and James Lessor, has the pair working on a murder mystery that takes them from their usual Miami haunts to the La-la Land of Hollywood. While the film industry may be in the business of creating make-believe, beneath the fiction is a very real world of money, greed, and murder.
Award-winning actor Jason Londell was doing a favor for a producer friend by making an appearance on the TV series Deadline Miami. The first part of the title comes true when Londell’s stunt jump from a scaffold goes horribly wrong.
Skip and James are working security for the set, where Skip has a front-row seat for Londell’s death plunge. But was it an accident, or suicide, or was it murder? The female star of the show hires the pair to investigate. She’s most suspicious of Londell’s wife, who had also been his agent until recently. Complicating matters, the wife is pregnant, and also happens to be the star’s sister.
Soon Skip and his long-term girlfriend Emily are off to Hollywood to pursue several leads. But events take a weird turn when Emily is “discovered” as an actress, and Skip is almost killed by a homicidal driver. There is no shortage of suspects: the agent/wife; the alcoholic director of the episode; and a cameraman who was on the scaffolding but disappeared immediately after Londell died. As Skip digs deeper, he uncovers more reasons why Londell had to die—and people are willing to kill Skip to keep the reasons secret.
The portrayal of the film world, both on the Miami set and in Hollywood, is nicely done with fun tidbits for the reader. Bruns writes with a light touch and a keen eye for life’s ironies that puts a smile on your face even as you’re quickly turning the pages to see what happens next.

Reviewed by David Ingram for Suspense Magazine ( )