I've reproduced this symptom on two computers now, cmake seems to no longer look in /usr/local/lib (or more properly, $(brew --prefix)/lib) for Homebrew-provided libraries since upgrading my machine to macOS Mojave.
Although there are ways to circumvent this (e.g. search for homebrew prefix using EXECUTE_PROCESS; add the result to LINK_LIBRARIES(...) command) none are ideal. What changed in Mojave to break this behavior?
The temporary workaround is to add the following to CMakeLists.txt:
# WARNING: Don't hard-code this path
LINK_DIRECTORIES(/usr/local/lib)
I've already tried brew doctor and updated all homebrew packages to no avail.
The specific error that cmake (make) shows is:
ld: library not found for -l<somelib>
I've asked the question on the Homebrew forums and the Apple developer forums.