Music journalist Mick Sever received an early morning phone call from his ex-wife Ginny that immediately changed his plans for the day. Ginny was in the midst of editing legendary singer/songwriter Gideon Pike’s tell-all book, but became frustrated when she couldn’t find her collaborator. When she checked his apartment, she found the door unlocked and the apartment ransacked. Because Mick and Gideon were longtime friends, Mick reluctantly left Chicago for South Beach to help her search for the elusive star.

Shortly after Mick arrived in South Beach, he checked his Chicago phone messages and discovered that Gideon had left him a message indicating he really was in trouble and he begging for help.

Mick and Ginny discovered they were not the only ones looking for Gideon. Korean mobster Jimmy Shinn was also trying to find him, as was Tom Biddle, Gideon’s manager. With untold millions of dollars on the line, whoever found Gideon first would either save him or kill him.

The search for the missing songwriter was conducted with the scenic South Beach as a backdrop. Mick stayed in a hotel near Gideon’s condo, and much of the action took place at the nearby pier where Gideon had a yacht. As the number of bodies began to pile up, there was a feeling of dread coursing through Mick and Ginny that the outcome was not going to be to their liking.

South Beach Shakedown: The Diary of Gideon Pike was published in 2006 and was Don Bruns third Mick Sever novel. He has since followed with St. Bart’s Breakdown and Bahama Burnout. He is also the author of the successful Stuff series beginning with Stuff to Die For. He is a musician and the co-editor of the anthology A Merry Band of Murderers written by a number of mystery writers who are also musicians, Mr. Bruns being one of the contributors as well.

South Beach Shakedown is a fast-paced mystery about the lucrative music industry and one of those mystery books that can easily keep someone up at night. It is a true page-turner with all the action, mystery, and twists and turns all good mysteries should have. I am certainly looking forward to reading more mysteries involving Mick Sever as amateur detective.

A special thank you goes to Oceanview Publishing for providing a complimentary copy of South Beach Shakedown. If you would like to read this novel or any of the other Don Bruns mysteries, they are available at Amazon.com.