Books in the Jane Wheel Mysteries series

Fresh on the heels of Killer Stuff, Sharon Fiffer''s auspicious debut, antique "picker" Jane Wheel is making a career out of going through old stuff; it seems she can''t get enough of the piles of vintage clothing, kitchen utensils, Bakelite buttons and post cards she finds at estate sales across the Chicago area. What this saloon keepers'' daughter loves, though, is not the items themselves but the stories they tell about the lives of their owners.So needless to say Jane''s delighted when a Saturday morning estate sale turns up a serendipitous find: a whole room packed full of 1950''s saloon ephemera. As luck would have it, she''s been planning to redecorate her parents'' pub, still run and recently purchased outright by her folks. Piles of Bakelite darts and dice, countless advertisements from long-defunct liquor suppliers, and, most exciting of all, a bunch of old bar games, employed by untold patrons intent on whiling away the tedious moments in between the sips of so long ago. She makes a deal to buy the whole room, and can''t wait to get the stuff back to her hometown.As she''s cataloging her find, however, Jane makes a gruesome discovery. Packed between the glassware and bowling trophies and old photographs she''s already fallen in love with, she uncovers one highly personal, unusual and creepy collectible that she is sure the saloon keeper would have preferred to have kept to himself. It sure sparks her curiosity about the saloon owners, and when Jane gets curious nothing''s going to stop her. Employing her friends Detective Bruce Oh and fellow junkhound Tim Lowry, as well as her erstwhile husband Charley, Jane sets out to lay bare the secrets of long ago, secrets that even people close to her would rather be kept quiet forever. Packed with as much intrigue and suspense as a long-buried chest in your grandmother''s attic, Dead Guy''s Stuff is a fantastic sophomore effort from acclaimed promising cozy writer Sharon Fiffer.

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.