Synopses & Reviews
In this dynamite series debut, Sharon Fiffer has introduced an engaging and enterprising heroine in Jane Wheel. Recently laid off from her advertising job, separated from her husband Charley, and colliding head-on with a midlife crisis, Jane is trying to make ends meet as an antique "picker" foraging for killer stuff at suburban Chicago's estate sales and auctions, garage sales and flea markets.
Before long she's addicted to the hunt, spending her Friday nights with the classified ads and a street map, outlining her weekend plan of attack. Jane knows that finding the real treasures is all about being in the right place at the right time.
But just as she's settling in to her new routine, Jane finds herself in just the wrong place and at quite the wrong time: stumbling over her neighbor Sandy's dead body. Soon she's the prime suspect. After all, everyone on the block seems to have seen her kissing Sandy's husband at a recent dinner party. Leaning on her best friend Tim, a flower shop owner and fellow junk hound, as well as Evanston police detective Bruce Oh, Jane has no choice but to hunt for the truth. Hopefully her knack for uncovering valuables in the least likely of places will extend to discovering clues as well. Like the vintage postcards, Bakelite buttons, and Fulper lamps that she dreams of finding, to Jane the truth just might be priceless.
Sharon Fiffer's mystery debut is a fabulously entertaining read and an intriguing puzzle featuring a heroine that's a dynamic mix of Miss Marple, Kinsey Millhone, and Leigh and Leslie Keno.
Review
"Sharon Fiffer's first mystery is a must have...this is a keeper."--
Chicago Tribune"Entertaining...an auspicious debut featuring a popular pastime."--Booklist
"[Jane's] addiction to Bakelite and other unusual relics of the American past will endear her to many cozy readers, especially those who are fans of TV's Antiques Roadshow."--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
The debut title of new mystery series introducing Jane Wheel, former career woman who is now an antique "picker, " sniffing out "killer stuff" at estate sales, auctions, and flea markets in suburban Chicago. When she discovers the body of a fellow collector and stumbles upon a second corpse, Jane soon becomes the prime suspect. With homicide detective Bruce Oh and her best friend Tim, Jane sets out to catch a killer. Martin's Press.
About the Author
Sharon Fiffer collects buttons, Bakelite, pottery, vintage potholders, keys, locks, and other killer stuff. She is co-editor of the anthologies
Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own, Body, and
Family: American Writers Remember Their Own; and the author of
Imagining America. Killer Stuff is her first novel.