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Jane Wheel has a lot of stuff. Vintage flowerpots, postcards, Bakelite buttons, pencil sharpeners, mismatched china, linens, even old report cards from children she never knew peek out from the deepest corners of her home, threatening to envelop her entire life. Of course, she's not just a pack rat (or so she tells herself), it's her job: Jane is an antique picker, cruising garage sales and rummage tables looking for items she can turn around and sell to dealers or collectors, picking up a show more tidy profit. Trouble is, she does a lot of buying and so far only a little selling. When a school permission slip lost among the towering boxes in Jane's kitchen causes her son, Nick, to miss a field trip, Jane vows to get rid of it all, organizing her house and, in the process, she hopes, her life. Meanwhile, she's entertaining two offers of employment---as an associate with her friend Tim Lowry's antiques dealership and as a consultant in a private investigations firm with former police detective Bruce Oh. Unable to decide, Jane figures she'll take a crack at splitting hertime between the two pursuits. Immediately, and with fragile emotions swirling from her great house-cleaning project, Jane finds herself smack in the middle of a case that will draw on both her new jobs. An antiques dealer has been accused of murder, perhaps as part of covering up an extensive furniture-counterfeiting operation. Jane can hardly wait to investigate---that is, until she learns the identity of the accused: Claire Oh, wife of her new partner Bruce. Rich in the details of junk-sale ephemera that have intriguedfans of previous Jane Wheel adventures,The Wrong Stuff is another fascinating, meticulously crafted mystery. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Light, amusing amateur detective novel featuring Jane Wheel, a junk sales picker, who finds choice items for two dealers (one, her good friend Tim) but who can't resist bringing home anything for which she can imagine a good story. When her stash of goods obscures her son's field trip permission slip, Jane decides it's time to de-clutter but then Detective Bruce Oh asks for her help in clearing his wife, an antiques dealer accused of murder. Jane and Tim travel to a haughty restoration/artists' resort to investigate. How can Jane de-clutter when she's busy de-tecting? One reviewer described this series as Antiques Roadshow meets I Love Lucy, which is pretty accurate.
Another good Jane Wheel book. I love the characters and the mystery always seems to have a twist.
Thank you Ms. Fiffer!
Thank you Ms. Fiffer!
Great cozy mystery. It is like if someone was killed at the Antiques Road Show.
I love this series and this book is proving to be good so far.
Only a couple of slow bumps, I'm ready for the next one.
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Author Information
14 Works 970 Members
Sharon Fiffer lives in the Chicago area with her husband, Steve. Together they edited a couple of widely acclaimed collections of literary memoirs, Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own and Family: American Writers Remember Their Own. After this, Sharon began writing mystery novels. Her series about her main character, Jane Wheel, show more currently contains seven books. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Wrong Stuff
- Original publication date
- 2003
- People/Characters
- Jane Wheel; Tim Lowry; Detective Bruce Oh; Claire Oh
- Important places
- Kankakee, Illinois, USA; Michigan, USA; USA; Illinois, USA; Kankakee County, Illinois, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 134
- Popularity
- 239,633
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.55)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 3
