Too Much Stuff: A Novel

by Don Bruns

Overview

A 1935 hurricane in the Florida Keys destroyed the East Coast Railway, killed five-hundred people and blew away the town of Islamorada. Lost in that storm was Mathew Kriegel, a finance director for the railroad, and one and a quarter million dollars in gold. Now newly minted private investigators Skip More and James Lessor, of More Or Less Investigations have been hired to find that lost treasure. Fighting off competitors, scuba diving, digging in a spooky cemetery and almost getting killed is only part of their job. Skip and James have stumbled onto the biggest most dangerous adventure of their lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608090655
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	11/16/2012
Series:	The Stuff Series , #5
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Don Bruns is an award-winning novelist, songwriter, musician and advertising executive, who lives in South Florida. He is also the author of Stuff to Spy For, Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, Stuff To Die For, Bahama Burnout, St. Barts Breakdown, South Beach Shakedown, BarbadosHeat and Jamaica Blue.

Editorial Reviews

"Bruns has written a humorous series with likeable characters. I found myself rooting for these two quirky guys who manage to bumble along solving mysteries and along the way they find out a little more about who they really are. I recommend this book especially for those who enjoy a lighthearted adventure story." —ReviewTheBook

From the Publisher

Reading like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre channeled through Elmore Leonard, Bruns’s fifth outing for James Lessor and Skip Moore (after 2010’s Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff) sends the two bumbling would-be PIs to the Florida Keys to search for lost gold. Their employer, Mary Trueblood, suspects that a train shipment of gold, then worth .2 million and supposedly lost during a 1935 hurricane, was in fact stolen by her great-grandfather, Matthew Kriegel, and hidden in the village of Islamorad. They instead find a smuggling operation and the murdered body of either Todd Markim or Jim Weezle, a previous pair of treasure hunters. Bruns milks humor from Skip’s dawning awareness of his and James’s investigative ineptitude, and from their luck in attracting far more intelligent and resourceful women like Skip’s girlfriend, Emily. Those not looking for tight plotting or suspense will best appreciate this breezy beach read for all seasons. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Call them fun-loving slackers, but partners Skip and James aren't suffering from any quarter-life crisis. Their fifth case (after Don't Sweat the Small Stuff) brings the bumbling duo back for a treasure hunt caper in the Florida Keys. They've been hired by a lovely (natch!) descendant of a railroad tycoon who might have buried several million dollars' worth of gold bars in the Keys back in 1935. A hurricane destroyed the booming resort area of Islamorada that year, and her great-grandfather and the gold disappeared. Luckily, she has an old letter with clues in it, so our guys give it a shot. Skip's savvy girlfriend, Em, sniffs out those leads and joins in. The hapless group muddles along, finding some current crime issues and quite a few laughs along the way. Plus, a librarian helps solve the case! VERDICT Inspired by Les Standiford's book Last Train to Paradise, this silly caper just happens to share some Florida history, too. Recommend for those looking for a chuckle, movie quotes (Skip and James's specialty), and something along the lines of Dave Barry.

Library Journal