From Booklist
Antiques picker Jane Wheel has vowed to reduce the clutter in her home after losing her son's field-trip permission slip. At the same time, she must decide whether to join former police detective Bruce Oh's private detective agency. Events come to a head when Oh's wife, Claire, an antiques dealer, is accused of substituting a fake chest for an extremely rare find. When the buyer is murdered, leaving Claire the prime suspect, Jane agrees to investigate; so she and her longtime friend Tim go off to Campbell and LaSalle, the company where the chest was restored, and Jane finds a second body. The plot has a few holes--it's unrealistic to think that Jane would be able to search and remove evidence from the second victim's cabin and vehicle before the police do--but readers will respond to the likable characters and their amusing interrelationships. The details of antiques picking, dealing, and restoring, as well as clutter removal, offer added dimensions to an enjoyable series. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Praise For Sharon Fiffer And Her Novels
"Absolutely charming. Added bonus: the amusing admonitions to pack rats that head up each chapter."-Kirkus Reviews

"Sharon Fiffer writes very clever 'stuff.' Think Antiques Roadshow meets I Love Lucy and prepare to enjoy."-Jerrilyn Farmer, author of the bestselling Madeline Bean mysteries

"Fiffer has created an attractive and entertaining detective."-Dallas Morning News

"Sharon Fiffer's first mystery is a must-have...this is a keeper."-Chicago Tribune on Killer Stuff

"Readers whose idea of heaven is picking through boxes of junk at a dusty flea market are certain to love this entertaining first novel starring Chicagoan Jane Wheel...an auspicious debut featuring a popular pastime." -Booklist on Killer Stuff

"Clever...well-developed, entertaining characters...pack rats and fans of lighter mystery fare should be perfectly satisfied." -Publishers Weekly on Dead Guy's Stuff

"A promising springboard for future tales." --Orlando Sentinel on Killer Stuff



Review
Praise For Sharon Fiffer And Her Novels
"Absolutely charming. Added bonus: the amusing admonitions to pack rats that head up each chapter."-Kirkus Reviews

"Sharon Fiffer writes very clever 'stuff.' Think Antiques Roadshow meets I Love Lucy and prepare to enjoy."-Jerrilyn Farmer, author of the bestselling Madeline Bean mysteries

"Fiffer has created an attractive and entertaining detective."-Dallas Morning News

"Sharon Fiffer's first mystery is a must-have...this is a keeper."-Chicago Tribune on Killer Stuff

"Readers whose idea of heaven is picking through boxes of junk at a dusty flea market are certain to love this entertaining first novel starring Chicagoan Jane Wheel...an auspicious debut featuring a popular pastime." -Booklist on Killer Stuff

"Clever...well-developed, entertaining characters...pack rats and fans of lighter mystery fare should be perfectly satisfied." -Publishers Weekly on Dead Guy's Stuff

"A promising springboard for future tales." --Orlando Sentinel on Killer Stuff



Book Description
Jane Wheel is an antiques picker, cruising garage sales looking for items she can turn around and sell to dealers for a tidy profit. She also has a knack for finding clues and solving crimes...
But her vast collection of junk has landed her in an emotional quagmire. When a school permission slip gets lost among the towering boxes in Jane's kitchen, causing her son Nick to miss a field trip, Jane vows to get rid of it all, organizing her house and, she hopes, her life. A call from detective Bruce Oh asking for help on a homicide promises a new career direction. Jane can hardly wait to investigate, until she learns the identity of the accused: it's antiques dealer Claire Oh, wife of her new partner. And the trail leads right back into the heart of her passion for other people's stuff...and into a deadly joining of old passions, new secrets, and imminent danger.



From the Back Cover
"Sharon Fiffer is a great writer of guilty pleasures. I've read every one of her mysteries. My rally cry: Give Me More Stuff!" -Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones

Flea Market Treasures...Worth Dying For
Jane Wheel is an antiques picker, cruising garage sales looking for items she can turn around and sell to dealers for a tidy profit. She also has a knack for finding clues and solving crimes...
But her vast collection of junk has landed her in an emotional quagmire. When a school permission slip gets lost among the towering boxes in Jane's kitchen, causing her son Nick to miss a field trip, Jane vows to get rid of it all, organizing her house and, she hopes, her life. A call from detective Bruce Oh asking for help on a homicide promises a new career direction. Jane can hardly wait to investigate, until she learns the identity of the accused: it's antiques dealer Claire Oh, wife of her new partner. And the trail leads right back into the heart of her passion for other people's stuff...and into a deadly joining of old passions, new secrets, and imminent danger.

"Smart, funny, and rich with antique lore. Sharon Fiffer has the right stuff!"
-Parnell Hall, author of the Puzzle Lady crossword-puzzle mysteries

"[Jane's] addiction to Bakelite and other unusual relics of the American past will endear her to many cozy readers, especially those who are fans of TV's Antiques Roadshow."
-Publishers Weekly



About the Author
Sharon Fiffer collects buttons, Bakelite, pottery, vintage potholders, keys, locks, and other killer stuff. She is coeditor of the anthologies Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own; Body; and Family: American Writers Remember Their Own, and the author of Killer Stuff and Dead Guy's Stuff, the previous two Jane Wheel mysteries, and Imagining America. She lives near Chicago.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jane Wheel has a lot of stuff. Vintage flowerpots, postcards, Bakelite buttons, pencil sharpeners, mismatched china, 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 tidy profit. Trouble is, so far she's done only a little selling.

When a school permission slip lost among the towering boxes in Jane's kitchen causes her son 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 her time 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. Jane can hardly wait to investigate - that is, until she learns the identity of the accused: Claire Oh, wife of her new partner Bruce.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In Sharon Fiffer's third winning antiques mystery (after 2002's Dead Guy's Stuff), The Wrong Stuff, series heroine Jane Wheel goes undercover to investigate a dealer accused of murder as part of a counterfeit furniture operation, but the case has a personal angle she didn't anticipate. Haunters of flea markets and yard sales are in for a collectible treat. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Series sleuth/antique picker Jane Wheel (Killer Stuff) begins work in a P.I. office with friend Bruce Oh. Her first murder case involves an antiques dealer and counterfeit furniture, so she feels right at home. Unfortunately, the dealer accused happens to be Bruce's wife. A lively diversion. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews