Bruns's laid-back fifth mystery to feature Mick Sever (after 2008's St. Bart's Breakdown
) takes the music journalist to Nassau, to cover the resurgence of the legendary Highland Recording Studios, which burned down more than a year earlier and killed someone whose remains were never identified. Owners Jonah and Rita Britt have rebuilt, but the studio's now being targeted by a troublemaker. Rita blames a ghost, possibly that of the unidentified person who died in the fire, for destroying a guitar once owned by singer Sheryl Crow. Sever is also intrigued by the Cadillac a Bahamian matron is offering for sale that supposedly belonged to Elvis Presley. When the manager of Johnny Run, a once red-hot band recording its comeback attempt at Highland, is strangled while sitting in the Cadillac, Sever turns detective. Bruns's twisted, if at times hazy, tale of rock-and-roll revenge will keep readers guessing until the end. (Mar.)
