One might think that with as much time as James Lessor spends trying to bend the rules to acquire stuff for himself and his friend Skip Moore, James would inevitably have more stuff. As this is not the case, James is always ready to take part in, and take over, any new angles for making money with minimum effort.

Skip is excited about getting a contract to install a security system for Synco Systems and invites James to help supervise some of the workers. The primary catch to the contract is that Skip has to be the pretend boyfriend of the mistress of the president of the company.

Sarah Crumbly went to school with Skip and James and dated Skip a few times, so she feels the cover story would make sense and allow her lover to allay his wife's suspicions. However, helping his former flame fool the president's wife, even for a fat bonus, skates the edge of the ethical line for Skip, particularly as it means not telling his girlfriend, Em. James is, of course, all for the deceit.

Don Bruns' most recent installment of the Stuff series combines humor, excellent character craftsmanship and mystery to create a quick-moving tale that races to the end.