Customer Reviews

Scary Stuff (Jane Wheel Mysteries)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read the other books in this series and was waiting for this one to come out. It was worth the wait. Now I have to wait for the next one - and I sure hope there is one! Keeps you guessing!

Loved it! I am origanlly from Illinois, and know all the areas she talks about in the book...It was a quick read and very enjoyable.

Chicago collectible picker Jane Wheel is very concerned with her brother Michael whom she fears is working with dishonest eBay dealer Honest Joe. Her evidence is counterfeit baseball cards she found in her sibling's house when she visited him in California.

She also knows that customers taken to the cleaners by dishonest Honest Joe have been ready to beat the snot out of Michael. Worse Michael looks like Honest Joe's twin that is on his internet store site. Jane asks her detective partner, Bruce Oh to investigate. His inquiry leads her to Jim Speller of Herscher, Illinois; however Jim apparently is living with Jane's second cousin Ada, who is hosting a "Scary Night" haunted house festival with "real" thieving ghosts.

The latest Jane Wheel mystery (see HOLLYWOOD STUFF) is an exciting fast-paced investigative tale with several fabulous twists as readers anticipate the next spin. Jane is at her best as she tries to identify who Honest Joe the internet thief is and what the connection to her brother is; she rules out separated at birth theory. Fans will relish her efforts to protect Michael from irate surfers by uncovering the truth. SCARY STUFF is an enthralling amateur sleuth mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Antique picker Jane Wheel loves old stuff that was never meant to be in a collection-- old aprons and tea towels, orphaned Bakelite buttons, other families' photos... the list is endless--and she's good at it, reselling her estate sale finds to other collectors and adding to the treasure-filled rooms of her own home. These days, she's really a P.P.I., a Picker Private Investigator, because she is also an associate to a private detective. Bakelite buttons and secrets: Jane Wheel is good at finding them both.

Making a rare visit to her brother and his family, Jane was intrigued when Michael told her about the three times he was accused by strangers of cheating them on eBay only to realize they'd gotten the wrong man once they'd taken a good look at his face. Jane agrees to look into it for her brother and returns home to Illinois.

When she's back in Illinois, one of her parents' friends is attacked, and suddenly Jane has two cases, both of which seem a little too close to her loved ones.

Jane grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, and then moved to Chicago where she became a high-rolling advertising executive, got married and had a child. When she decided to put her power suits into storage and start picking, she found herself having much more contact with her childhood best friend and her parents. But even though she spends most of her time in a much more rural setting, she's a bit too much of a city girl:

"Country driving always made her nervous. All of these look-alike county roads, numbered or lettered, and no one around to answer any questions about directions. No landmarks, unless you consider the livestock, and one couldn't very well turn at the two cows or go straight past the trotting horse. Jane much preferred the anonymity of a city street to the isolation of the country road."


I've been a fan of Sharon Fiffer and this series since I read the first book, Killer Stuff. Having to wait three years for Scary Stuff was entirely too long, so when I finally managed to track down a copy, there was no way I could let it sit on a shelf.

It doesn't disappoint. There are enough treasures and picking in this book to make me start salivating and wanting to start collecting again. The two cases involving mistaken identity and the attack on a family friend are meaty and kept me guessing. More than anything else, I loved spending time with the characters again. Jane is such a blend of strength and insecurity, and Fiffer isn't afraid to shake up her private life.

Fiffer is also one of the very few writers who can have an extremely annoying character in every single book in the series and not make me want to rip out my hair. Jane's mother, Nellie, is about as exasperating as they come, but the more backstory Fiffer gives her, the more understandable she is. Now, by book six, Nellie has become a force of nature, and sometimes I can even chuckle and shake my head at her behavior, as in this scene:

"When Jane had asked the typical childhood questions of her mother-- How did you meet Dad? What was it like when you went to school? Et cetera-- Nellie had refused to participate. Her answers ranged from "I don't remember" to "What's the difference? Who cares?" Michael always said their mother missed her calling. She should have been with the CIA."


Involving plots, an interesting career, characters with depth whose paths are sometimes surprising and rocky, a sense of humor... all reasons for you to pick up a Jane Wheel mystery when you're in the mood for picking with bite.

I have enjoyed all of the Jane Wheel mysteries, and look forward to Backstage Stuff in January. Jane is likeable and very human - so much so that I sometimes want to shake her! The characters in these books work for me, although sometimes the situations they find themselves in are a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, all five books have been enjoyable to read.

This story drags. Moreover, the family relationships/secrets/deceptions that are the basis of the story are implausible. Admittedly, I personally simply couldn't get excited about or empathize with a character whose obsession in life is collecting junk. After a couple of days of attempting to read through the book, during which I'd read a few pages at a time then wander off to do something else, I flipped to the back just to see how it ended. If you suffer from insomnia and need something to put you to sleep, this book's the thing.