Rating: 
Summary: The work of a fine writer
Review: A friend of mine in the publishing business, an editor at one of the big houses who knows I'm a great admirer of the well-turned sentence, recommended this series to me last year and it was the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time. In THE WRONG STUFF and its two predecessor books Mrs. Fiffer has done to the "picking" subculture what was done to dog shows by Guest and Levy in the movie "Best in Show" (but in a nice way). This third installment, like the previous two, has a cast of compelling characters and a plot that keeps the reader turning the pages and thoroughly engaged with Jane Wheel and Bruce Oh as they puzzle their way to the very satisfying conclusion. And those would be reasons enough to recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. But they are not the main reason. The main reason you ought not to leave this page before mousing over and adding this book to your shopping cart is, in a word, the writing. It's the kind of writing that can make you laugh out loud. And think hard about your own life, if you're of a certain age. It can make you hurt for characters you know exist only in your imagination and that of those others who have been fortunate enough to stumble across this wonderful series. It is, frankly, the kind of writing that many of the big names at the top of the best seller list wouldn't recognize if it bit them on the leg. Sharon Fiffer is the best writer nobody ever heard of. Please keep 'em coming, ma'am.
Rating:
Summary: The Wrong Stuff
Review: Another of this very enjoyable series - a must for the collecting addict and Antique Roadshow fan. Not only is the story entertaining - there is a wealth of good, basic information. Enjoy !!
Rating:
Summary: fun private investigative yarn for cozy fans
Review: Antiques dealer Jane Wheel uses her home as her warehouse so personal things tend to vanish amidst the forest of items. Her son knows first hand the frustration of simply putting something down and not finding it for seemingly centuries afterward. Jane vows to do better, but she also works in Bruce Oh's private investigative firm, which means even less time to catalogue and clean up the house. As Jane struggles at home, Bruce's wife antique dealer Claire admires a battered chest but the owners, believing it's trash, simply want to save money and effort to cart it off so they give it to her. Claire feels she has obtained an extremely rare Westman Sunflower Chest. She sells her treasure to dealer Horace Cutler, another dealer and takes the item to get it restored. However, when Horace receives his goods he goes wild calling Claire a cheat as he insists the chest is a fake. Not long afterward someone kills Horace and the police suspect Claire committed the homicide. Bruce and Jane set out to prove his spouse is innocent while traveling the cutthroat antiques' world seeking clues. The who-done-it is fine, but takes a back seat to the strong cast. Jane is a delightful heroine struggling between clutter and oxygen with amusing asides at the beginning of each chapter that will amuse readers especially the pack rats who throw away nothing. Just ask her son about that. Jane's friend Tim Lowry adds humor and further insight to the apprentice sleuth. Sharon Fiffer provides a jocular private investigative yarn that the cozy crowd will believe is the right stuff. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: fun private investigative yarn for cozy fans
Review: Antiques dealer Jane Wheel uses her home as her warehouse so personal things tend to vanish amidst the forest of items. Her son knows first hand the frustration of simply putting something down and not finding it for seemingly centuries afterward. Jane vows to do better, but she also works in Bruce Oh's private investigative firm, which means even less time to catalogue and clean up the house. As Jane struggles at home, Bruce's wife antique dealer Claire admires a battered chest but the owners, believing it's trash, simply want to save money and effort to cart it off so they give it to her. Claire feels she has obtained an extremely rare Westman Sunflower Chest. She sells her treasure to dealer Horace Cutler, another dealer and takes the item to get it restored. However, when Horace receives his goods he goes wild calling Claire a cheat as he insists the chest is a fake. Not long afterward someone kills Horace and the police suspect Claire committed the homicide. Bruce and Jane set out to prove his spouse is innocent while traveling the cutthroat antiques' world seeking clues. The who-done-it is fine, but takes a back seat to the strong cast. Jane is a delightful heroine struggling between clutter and oxygen with amusing asides at the beginning of each chapter that will amuse readers especially the pack rats who throw away nothing. Just ask her son about that. Jane's friend Tim Lowry adds humor and further insight to the apprentice sleuth. Sharon Fiffer provides a jocular private investigative yarn that the cozy crowd will believe is the right stuff. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: The lead character suffers from ADHD!
Review: I'm always looking for a unique perspective in a mystery, and as a longtime Antique Roadshow fan, I was drawn to Jane Wheel's job as a antique "picker," somebody who finds unique "stuff" for dealers.
Jane has an avocation as a detective, working for Bruce Oh, whose wife is in trouble. A dealer has turned up dead and Claire Oh is a suspect because the dealer accused her of trying to sell him a phony chest of drawers.
Jane and her partner Tim Lowry set off to Campbell and LaSalle's, an artist's colony that also does furniture restoration, to try to exonerate Clair. When they get there, Jane discovers a body, a man face down in a pool of water, an apparent suicide or accidental death.
The trouble with the lead character is that she can't seem to focus. If I were a doctor, I'd diagnose ADHD. The chapter headings offer a clue as to what this book will be like. They're from a book entitled, OVERSTUFFED. Because she was so occupied with collecting, Jane forgot to sign a permission slip for her son and he wasn't allowed to go on a field trip. Now she feels like a bad mother and she's determined to eliminate the clutter from her life. So, every so often, even in the midst of an important clue as to what's going at Campbell and LaSalle's, Jane will be distracted by her bulging purse, her cell phone, a good-looking man, some delicacy she's having for lunch, or by her sidekick, Tim, who's always pulling practical jokes on her. The plot is extremely thin and the resolution is even thinner. The characters are stereotypical. There's a gay man, an inscrutable oriental and a nagging mother. What's really hard to believe is that this is the third in a series. St. Martin's was one of the last to reject over-the-transom submissions. If this is the best they can do, they really ought to go back to the slush pile.
Rating:
Summary: Another "Stuff" story that Rocks!!
Review: Jane and her supporting cast are so quirky you can't help but like them. I have enjoyed all of her "stuff" stories. This one will not disappoint. Read it and laugh!
Rating:
Summary: Another "Stuff" story that Rocks!!
Review: Jane and her supporting cast are so quirky you can't help but like them. I have enjoyed all of her "stuff" stories. This one will not disappoint. Read it and laugh!
Rating:
Summary: Antiques and murder
Review: Jane forgets to sign a school permission slip for her son. So, she vows to clean up her act and get rid of all her stuff. Easier said than done. She is an antiques picker and a packrat. While her husband and son are away at a conference, Jane begins this process by purchasing a book , "Overstuffed."
She has been trying to decide between two offers - to become an associate with Tim, her friend, in his antiques dealership or to become a consultant in a private investigations firm with Bruce Oh, a former police detective she met in previous cases.
Tim and Jane head up to a furniture restoration place. It is more like a commune. The artists live there. Jane discovers one of them face down in a stream out back. Once again she is embroiled in a murder investigation.
Bruce Oh's wife is an antiques dealer and already the suspect in a murder back home. Now she is implicated in this as well.
Can Tim and Jane, with the help of Bruce Oh undercover, discover the real murderer and how and why it was done?
During all this she has to deal with her mother and father by phone. This is not an easy task under normal situations but her father is going in for some medical tests that Jane was unaware of before. Can she handle all this and still organize her life at home?
This is a fun series to read. I really enjoy reading about Jane's adventures. She is very entertaining. Her character is very rich and detailed. The antiques world is a lot of fun to be exposed to and the author does a great job of weaving that in without bogging down the mystery.
I like that there is plenty of investigation throughout the story as well. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: My Stuff Runneth Over
Review: Like the Jadite and Bakelite and old linens and handwriting that Jane finds, Sharon Fiffer's "Stuff" series just keeps getting better. When we last left Jane Wheel, Kankakee saloon owners' daughter, former ad exec, Charley's not-so-estranged wife and Nick's momma, now antique "picker," sentimental "junquer," and ameuteur sleuth, she was chillin on the back porch with husband Charley, contemplating what she was going to be when she grew up. Would she reunite the family with Charley? Would she go into the picking/selling antiques/collectibles business with bestfriend since 1st grade Tim? Would she partner with retired Police Detective Oh (he of the great old ties?) Or have it all, to be a PI ("Picker Investigator?") But can one have too much Stuff? Too many titles and responsibilities? Fiffer has invented organizing maven Belinda St. Germain, author of *Overstuffed An Addicts Guide to Decluttering* who chides and guides disciples into getting rid of their excessive Stuff before it suffocates them. Would but she were real and I could collect her books! The title, "The Wrong Stuff," has multiple meanings as one meanders through the mystery. Fiffer sells intelligent social commentary along with another fun foray into the cozy colorful world of collectors and collectables, cleverly set up in the two prior "Stuffs." TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: My Stuff Runneth Over
Review: Like the Jadite and Bakelite and old linens and handwriting that Jane finds, Sharon Fiffer's "Stuff" series just keeps getting better. When we last left Jane Wheel, Kankakee saloon owners' daughter, former ad exec, Charley's not-so-estranged wife and Nick's momma, now antique "picker," sentimental "junquer," and ameuteur sleuth, she was chillin on the back porch with husband Charley, contemplating what she was going to be when she grew up. Would she reunite the family with Charley? Would she go into the picking/selling antiques/collectibles business with bestfriend since 1st grade Tim? Would she partner with retired Police Detective Oh (he of the great old ties?) Or have it all, to be a PI ("Picker Investigator?") But can one have too much Stuff? Too many titles and responsibilities? Fiffer has invented organizing maven Belinda St. Germain, author of *Overstuffed An Addicts Guide to Decluttering* who chides and guides disciples into getting rid of their excessive Stuff before it suffocates them. Would but she were real and I could collect her books! The title, "The Wrong Stuff," has multiple meanings as one meanders through the mystery. Fiffer sells intelligent social commentary along with another fun foray into the cozy colorful world of collectors and collectables, cleverly set up in the two prior "Stuffs." TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer
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