Hollywood Stuff: A Jane Wheel Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Sharon Sloan Fiffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2006

She was a monastic person, one who would be happy to live as a recluse, a hermit . . . if only the other caves would hold occasional yard sales. Ay, there was the rub. Jane had to put up with all those other people because people begat stuff, and stuff, for Jane, was what brought people palatably to life. It made others interesting, warm, human. It was what people kept and what they discarded that guided Jane through the confusion of human emotions. But how could Jane go along on her anonymously merry way, scouting junk in alleys and yards, on rummage sale tables, and auction house floors, if she was involved in some ego-wrenching nonsense in, for the love of Pete, Hollywood?
 
Soon after a TV magazine profiles antique collector Jane Wheel for her role as an amateur sleuth, her story catches the eye of Wren Bixby, owner of Bix Pix Flix in Los Angeles. Bixby wants the rights to Jane's story for her offbeat independent film company and eventually persuades Jane to leave behind her newfound hometown celebrity in Kankakee, Illinois, and head west for Hollywood.
But Jane's time in Tinseltown is interrupted when she discovers that someone has targeted Bix and her partners, and Jane resumes her role as detective, determined to stop a killer.
In Hollywood Stuff, Sharon Fiffer captures the light and dark sides of Hollywood as Jane discovers that in the buying and selling of Hollywood memories and memorabilia, it's a murderous marketplace where the price can kill.

 

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Fiffer's disappointing fifth Jane Wheel mystery (after 2004's Buried Stuff), collectibles maven Jane is thrilled when Wren "Bix" Bixby, an L.A. movie producer, calls to say she wants to make a movie about Jane's adventures as a part-time PI. Jane and Tim Lowry, her best friend and business partner, head to California on the next plane. She's not there long before she runs into her college beau, Jeb Gleason, who, it turns out, is buddy-buddy with Bix. Then an explosion in a prop room lands Bix in the hospital. To make matters worse, Bix's business partner—or, rather, someone whom Jane thinks is Bix's business partner—is stabbed at a large flea market with a potentially valuable letter opener. While investigating this crime spree, Jane realizes that her old flame's writing career isn't as golden as it seems. Unfortunately, two-dimensional characters and the killer's obvious identity will limit readership to less demanding cozy fans. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Leaving suburban Chicago behind for this fifth in the series, antiques picker and new PI Jane Wheel travels with her longtime pal Tim Lowry to Hollywood, where a movie producer is interested in buying the rights to the pair's past sleuthing adventures. But new adventures await. Details about the antique and flea-market businesses--a staple of the series--are abundant again, but this time there is also plenty of background on moviemaking. Jane and Tim's comfortable friendship continues, but Jane also works closely with partner Bruce Oh, whose measured investigative techniques mix effectively with her own impetuous style. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (August 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786288868
• ISBN-13: 978-0786288861
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,254,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Memoir led to mystery for writer Sharon Fiffer

Before finding her inner Nancy Drew,Fiffer co-edited three collections of literary memoirs: Home, Family, and Body.

Editing the memoirs of others prompted her to write about her own childhood--growing up in the EZ Way Inn, her parents' tavern in Kankakee, Illinois. When she began creating the character of antiques picker and scavenger, Jane Wheel, she decided to merge her own memories with those of her fictional heroine, giving Jane a giant helping of her Kankakee childhood.

"It's great fun to rewrite one's childhood and work out all the humor and glitches and heartbreaks of being a grown-up daughter while also struggling to be a mother, a wife, a professional, and a friend. It's also fun to shop at garage sales, rummage sales, flea markets and estate sales--all in the name of research."

Sharon Fiffer admits to having a few collections of her own, but is happy to work out any obsessions with Bakelite buttons, crocheted potholders and vintage sterling silver charm bracelets on the pages of her novels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Couldda Been a Contenda, June 3, 2006

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hollywood Stuff (Jane Wheel Mysteries, No. 5) (Paperback)

In Fiffer's fifth "Stuff," our Jane Wheel, PPI (Picker, Private Investigator,) has left the Friendly Confines of Illinois for the Left Coast. What a Grand opportunity to rummage through Hollywood - and maybe even find the stolen Ruby Slippers! This reviewer has previously raved that if you are frenzied over Fire-King, bonkers over Bakelite, cuckoo over kitsch, or otherwise silly over vintage stuff, you'll want to collect these charmingly murderous mysteries. Afficianadas of The Grand Quest will find more murderous fun than a year of yard sales.

But Fiffer's fifth is a Sale Bill that looks good, yet doesn't quite deliver. Maybe because she's out of her Illinois element, maybe because this is much more character than collectible-driven, Hollywood Stuff is just a pleasant afternoon browsing the Flea Market with old friends and new scoundrels. /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I gave up!, June 30, 2006

By 

John Speer (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hollywood Stuff (Jane Wheel Mysteries, No. 5) (Paperback)

At about 1/3 of the way through (just after Jane finds the corpse), I put the book down. I went to pick it up again, stopped, and decided, "I'm not reading any further. I just don't care." The characters/setting are overdone. Moreoever, Tim has become so stereotypically gay. And what airline serves Grey Goose (with stuffed olives!) in First anymore? Count yourself lucky to get an extra lime with your Finlandia.
A note to folks considering reading this one: it will help a great deal to re-read the previous one first. The "plot" involves remembering details of that book, which came out over a year ago.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New territory for Jane, June 9, 2006

By 

cccreamers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hollywood Stuff (Jane Wheel Mysteries, No. 5) (Paperback)

This is new territory for Jane. Literally. The action takes place in Hollywood, with Tim and Detective Oh included. Jane's detective skills are improving, and even though her picker's instincts are thriving, she manages mostly on her own to get to the bottom of this convoluted tale. Old friends and memories conspire to trip her up, but Jane pulls through. Her recall of Oh's instructions repeatedly guide her. This is a great read, and the change of locale is great, the seduction of LA offers new temptations for Jane. I'm glad she went, but I'm glad too she is going home. This is a great addition to the Jane Wheel series.