Scary Stuff

Jane Wheel #6

by Sharon Fiffer

Antique picker Jane Wheel has always loved old stuff, from vintage salt and pepper shakers to other families’ old photos and orphaned Bakelite buttons, and she can’t really explain why. But she makes a living out of it, searching high and low at estate sales and antique shops and reselling her finds to other collectors. At least, it’s half a living---she makes the other half as an associate to a private detective, because she’s just as talented at digging up secrets as antiques.

While visiting her brother for the first time in years, Jane’s fascinated by a story of mistaken identity: On three occasions, someone has accused him of swindling them on eBay, only to realize he’s not the right guy. Even though he doesn’t see the point, she wants to look into it. Then back at home one of her parents’ friends is attacked, leading Jane to vow to get to the bottom of things.

Out of nowhere, Jane suddenly has two cases, both edging a little too close to her loved ones for comfort, because one thing’s for sure---whenever family gets wrapped up in your personal business, it’s bound to be some scary stuff.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Halloween, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Chris Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good mystery and a surprisingly engaging one considering it is one in a series with the character of Jane Wheeler, vintage and antique dealer. Many times it can be hard to read a book that is fourth or fifth in a series because you are introducing yourself to a character who was introduced to other readers several stories ago. The author was very successful at giving you everything you needed to know about these recurring characters without hashing out tons of information from previous books. Honestly, I didn’t know whodunnit until the last 6 pages and in my opinion, that’s a successful mystery.

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good cozy mystery with lots of twists and turns. Jane Wheel the main character is a "picker" - a person who looks for antiques/collectibles for other people and also a part time PI in partnership with a retired police detective. She starts out trying to help find the man who is selling fake collectibles and just happens to be a look alike for her brother and also help a friend who is clearing out her hoarder mom's house. The two cases start out separately but end up merging into one with lots of surprises.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reasons I gave this three stars were for the setting and cover art. Nellie, the grouchy, irritable mother of Jane Wheel (the MC), continues to annoy me, as does Jane herself, but I liked Q, Rita, and Tim. Cousin Ada's Halloween-themed house was lovely to read about, but the rest of the story, consisting mostly of stolen items and family secrets, barely held my interest. It's doubtful I'll be reading another in this series.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my continuing quest for fluffy mystery stories, this one fit the bill perfectly. I have enjoyed all the previous Jane Wheel books and look forward to reading the rest of them. This one reveals some further family history and develops our view of Jane's mother.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an older series but it is really engaging.

[Sarah "Kat" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the angle of this where the protagonist is a junker and all the refer necessary to antiques and collectibles was fun for a fellow junker.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun easy read. Great characters. Wish there were more books.

[Milksss · Rating 3 out of 5]

the turn of events at the end was awkward

[Kaeeap · Rating 2 out of 5]

very complicated plot & not too scary for a Halloween read

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uh-oh! But also it's Halloween-time and things are poppin' for Jane. This one is very family-oriented (so lots of Nellie, yay!) and has a big cliff-hanger at the end.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wheel is an "antique picker." She finds old stuff for people who want them and will pay lots of money to have them. She does this part-time, the other part being an associate to an ex-cop-turned-private detective, Bruce Oh.

While visiting her brother Michael, for the first time in years, she finds out from him that people have him confused with someone who looks exactly like him - well, almost. And that people think he conned them with selling fake stuff. And are willing to do him some harm because of it. And that the real con man, whoever he is, lives very close to Jane herself. So, she has decided that when she goes back home, she will locate the duplicate and tell him to stop selling junk.

Only it doesn't work out that way. While trying to find out who the con man, Honest Joe, really is, she finds out a lot of other things. Things about her family that she never knew. Relatives her mother, Nellie, never told her about. And someone is willing to kill to make sure that she never finds out the truth.

While Jane and her friend Tim prepare a friend's home for a sale, they notice things just Aren't What They Are Supposed to Be. And things only go downhill from there.

This book started out okay, but I just really couldn't get all that interested in it. Jane is supposed to be an "antique picker," as I stated, but I think the better term would be "hoarder." They do television shows about people like her. People who keep safety pins because "they're pretty." People who collect old dog dishes. People who have floor-to-ceiling boxes of junk. Which are junk, since she doesn't do anything with them except collect them. Don't get me wrong; everyone collects something. I collect things. But only one or two things. Not dozens of things. And you can walk through my house without thinking you'll be buried alive. From the description of Jane's personal space, a good earthquake and you'll never find the body. I could be wrong, but my own opinion.

I also thought her relationship with her husband was odd and couldn't figure out why they were married. Well, by the end of the book, that was resolved the way I figured it probably would (unless in a later book, something miraculously changes).

I guess I just thought Jane Wheel is a strange duck: a hoarder in a long-distance relationship that she could just go about doing whatever it was she did without having to worry about another human being. You want to like the main character, or at least have sympathy for them, but I did neither. She didn't really think ahead, just plunged into situations.


The mystery itself could have been better, since the situations seemed a little off-the-wall. When the killer was finally revealed, you would have thought that before acting, they would have done a little more homework to make sure that what they were planning would have worked out - like find out if there were any other living relatives. It just didn't make any sense. If you've read the book, you'll know what I'm talking about.

[Sue]

While visiting her brother Michael in California, Jane Wheel learns that he has been mistaken for an internet swindler. Concerned for his safety, because some of those swindled customers have been so angry that they have almost hit him, Jane decides to investigate, leading her to her hometown of Kankakee, Illinois. While staying with her parents, Jane also begins to help one of their old friends, Swanette, prepare for an estate sale. When Swanette is attacked, Jane tries to find the reason why. While attempting to locate the swindler, Jane meets a relative she never knew existed and explores some family history. Assisted by her acerbic mother, Nellie, her good friend, Tim, and her colleague, Bruce Oh, her cases ultimately intertwine, leading her to capture a swindler and a killer in this satisfying sixth book in the series. Details of life as an antiques “picker,” are woven throughout the story, and at the end of the book Jane learns her life will have to weather some big changes.

[Tig · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main character, Jane, annoys me tremendously. She collects things, she is a Picker, and she is a PI (kind of). She is surrounded by clutter, rooms full of clutter, a garage full of clutter, all of which she calls collectibles. I call it crap. She has a husband whom she pretty much ignores and who ignores her. She has a son who seems to be a small blip in her daily life. She has a best friend who also collects clutter, only his clutter is more upscale. Her parents own a bar in the country. Her brother lives in California and is their mom's favorite child, according to Jane who can't seem to get over the fact that her mom didn't save every piece of crap that Jane had as a kid. Jane spends a lot of time whining to herself about her life as a child. She spends a lot of time getting side-tracked by various things and events. I don't particularly care for her, which is the main reason that I didn't really like the book.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

#6 Jane Wheel, antiques picker and unlicensed PI, Kankakee Illinois; not too sweet cosy/amateur detective. Family secrets, town history, collectibles, and a batty old lady or three, make Jane's Halloween somewhat energetic; funny, well-paced, without becoming silly.

Something is not quite right with her baby brother Michael, now thirtyish and with a nice young family of his own in California. While visiting them briefly she spots some fishy looking collectibles that he is selling online, and can't believe he is scamming folks although the evidence seems strongly against him. When she finds the trail leads back to their family and hometown she sets out to track them down

full review at Reviewing The Evidence:
http://reviewingtheevidence.com/revie...

[Michael Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jane Wheel is a potentially interesting character--a professional antiques ragpicker and part-time P.I.--but at least in this installment, she comes off as unfocused, if not a little unstable. The other characters are equally wobbly, often inconsistent, and not really people you want to spend a lot of time with. There is one character who acts like a normal, rather compassionate human being, but he's a "Maguffin" character: important to the protagonist, but not important at all to the reader. In fact, the entire book seems to be struggling to maintain control. I can't speak for any other books in this series, and I likely never will be able to since "Scary Stuff" was not compelling enough to encouragement to seek out more.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been awhile since we've heard from Jane Wheel, and I missed her. This was a quick little mystery, taking Jane back to Kankakee. I liked how the book picked up right where we'd left Jane, as well as how it featured more of her family - it was interesting to get to know her brother. I'm wondering what will happen to Jane in future books and hope I don't have to wait as long between installments.
The one thing I didn't like was how a few chapters switched into Oh's perspective. I think it's better when it's all Jane.

[Peter Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a jolly good story! It's a very involving mystery which makes some apt observations about the circuitous, sometimes deceptive, nature of family relationships. The general tone is like an English cozy murder, a story both confined and supported by being set primarily in one small area. It also involves the world of collectibles, especially the kind of small trinkets which interest me almost as much they do the protagonist, and the author, according to the jacket notes. I'll be reading more of Susan Fiffer's work.

[Bayneeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I was fed up with the series after her last one, Hollywood Stuff , but she's back on track and back in the Kankakee area with her parents Nellie and Don and her life-long friend Tim. This is number six in the series about Jane Wheel who attends flea markets and estate sales as a "picker" for antique store owners. This one involves the sale of stolen and/or fake items on internet auction sites.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Wheel's interest is piqued when she learns that her brother has a virtual double, who is selling fraudulent merchandise on the internet. The trail leads her to a small village near Kankakee, her home town. Jane, a collector, picker and part-time private eye, calls in her forces, including best friend and antique seller Tim, her boss Bruce Oh, and her redoubtable mother Nellie. Little does Jane expect to learn some long-held secrets about her own family.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 6th in the Jane Wheel series. Jane's a "picker," one of those folks who specializes in flea markets and collectibles--but she's also a private eye in training. So it's cozy--but not cute--Fiffer makes observations about families and lifestyles, all woven into these very easy-to-pick-up mysteries. I've found these titles consistently comforting in times of stress, and thus recommend them to those working with bed-ridden or hospital-bound folks. Very Midwest.

[Sue Wargo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this series a couple years back on a random stroll through library shelves. I had never heard the term 'pickers' and found that it's almost like a yard sale fanatic but a professional. Now with the tv show called "American pickers" the idea is mainstream. So treat yourself to this engaging series and learn about 'pickers' as a profession and the character of Jane Wheel and her cast of characters who will teach you about how to look for treasures.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This latest Jane Wheel mystery, was in my opinion, the best to date. It was about Scary stuff, and do you know what? It was scary. Creepy fits too.

The mystery was further enhanced by development of Jane's Mother's character. I loved getting to know her better. We also get to know Jane's brother.

I enjoy the antiques, although I worry about Jane becoming a hoarder in latter life...read the book for your own opinion on this matter.

It was a super mystery and I was so happy to find it.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books always surprise me in that they are less shallow and frivolous than I think they are going to be. The characters are interesting. It seems that much of the action is a result of leaps of conjecture, being in the wrong place, trusting too easily, or rushing into a situation. One must pretty much suspend some belief in reality, but the "stuff" books are enjoyable and I always learn something.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story! The characters are cute, eccentric and strange in their own individual way – a lot of them made me chuckle and smile just because they reminded me of characters in my family! The story is well plotted, believable and yet as a surprising ending. Have enjoyed all the books that I’ve read in this series – also enjoy her traipsing episodes through her “junk collecting” – fit me to a tee! Good read!

[Maryellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Halloween and Jane finds all kinds of family skeletons while investigating several mysteries.Jane, is still, a bit of a mess.This book much better than her first book. The characters are filled out and are becoming comfortable. Plot line was good except for her mother getting in the way seemed unnecessary. Easy and enjoyable read on a cold October Sunday.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jane Wheel. She has an interesting "regular" job that lends itself to a variety of crimes to solve on the side. It's especially good that this adventure didn't revolve around her stumbling over a dead body. So many amateur detective series have unrealistic body counts for their small-town settings. (I'm talking to you Hannah Swensen in rural Minnesota)

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the Jane Wheel series. I think this is number 5 in the series. She loves the same things I do, estate sales, garage sales, basement sales, yard sales. Except she knows what she is looking at, but often gets sidetracked by buttons, monogrammed dog dishes, and rulers with advertising on - and the occasional murder.

[Myersorchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

there are very few books i want to revisit, rarely any mysteries...but this is one series i wish i'd kept. i have never met a character that was so like me. i guess i'm going to have to find the rest of her books again since i gave mine away.

[Thelma Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I forgot that Jane even had a brother. I am getting a little annoyed with the Jane Wheel character. If she doesn't start getting a little less distracted, she's gong to turn into a completely unbelievable ditz!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharon Fiffer just gets better and better. This is an incredible addition to her series about Jane Wheel. I really think she's one of the best current mystery writers around. The plot twists and characterizations are fantastic.