Buried Stuff : A Jane Wheel Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Subterranean Homesick Stuff
Review: o/~ Bakelite
and Jadite and
old table linens o/~
These are a few of Jane Wheel, saloon keepers' daughter, former ad exec, "digger" Charley's re-united wife and Nick's momma, now antique "picker," sentimental "junquer," self-described "curator of the unwanted," and ameuteur sleuth's Favorite Things.
Like Jane's treasured "stuff," Sharon Fiffer's "Stuff" series just keeps getting better. The 4th find in this collectible series starts with an apoplectic Jane at a Garage Sale. They're selling HER Stuff! The Horror! The Horror! But she is saved by an unearthed dead body in a Kankakee cornfield. Cancel the sale! She and crew are off to solve another case. If you can relate to "some stray bit of flotsam from that tidepool of popular culture that passed for her mind," this Stuff's for you! /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer


Rating:
Summary: terrific cozy
Review: One person's garbage is another person's treasure. Just ask Jane Wheel, a picker who goes to real estate sales to buy objects which she expects a demand to resell. She is also a private detective who seems to attract dead bodies like a magnet and finds out who killed them. Both professions provide Jane with the same powerful adrenalin rush although one seems a bit more sedate than the other.

Her friends persuade Jane to host a garage sale to rid her of the overflow and make room for new purchases. Shortly after the opening, Jane receives a phone call from her mother in Kankakea, Illinois asking for her and her geologist husband Charley to visit in order to examine some remains her neighbor Fuzzy found buried on her property.

Jane, Charley and their son Mick camp on Fuzzy's land. A noise awakens Jane who sees a man fall to the ground. She realizes that he is Fuzzy's neighbor Johnny Sullivan, a now dead reporter; she also sees Fuzzy walking back to her home. Once again Picker ad Private Investigator Jane is on the case of a homicide.

BURIED STUFF is a terrific cozy due to the strong support cast and obviously the center of the novel Jane, who does not know the meaning of the word quit. Readers get a look at a Midwestern small town in which most of the natives pull together to improve life for everyone. Sharon Fiffer provides an interesting story that grips fans without resorting to violence as Jane struts her stuff trying to solve this fascinating mystery.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Another Great Mystery!
Review: Sharon Fiffer has created a terrific mystery. I've read each of the Jane Wheel books - this is the best yet. Absorbing plot. Excellent use of language and description. Artfully developed characters - they're all quite believable, yet each is quirky in some entertaining way. We've all known a "Nellie" - someone we're in love with one moment and would like to strangle the next. Then there is the unflappable Detective Oh, and his elegant wife, Claire. And Jane's family relationships (with husband Charley, and son Nick) are portrayed in considerable depth and with just the right amount of humor. The story moves quickly along, and the mystery keeps the reader guessing until the end. Mystery lovers should not miss this book. I believe there will be more Jane Wheel editions in our future - and I am thankful for that!