Killer Stuff: A Jane Wheel Mystery (Jane Wheel Mysteries)
After making their way through this engaging debut mystery, readers will be scrounging through their attics looking for neglected treasures of all kinds. Jane Wheel, recently laid off from her PR job and separated from her professor husband, is making ends meet by foraging through garage and estate sales, flea markets and the odd auction in search of "killer stuff." Jane often borrows her neighbor Sandy's Suburban so she can haul her finds home, but after one trip she returns to find Sandy dead. Since too many people caught Jane sharing a furtive kiss with Sandy's husband at a dinner party months before, she fears the neighbors will consider her the prime suspect in the murder. Luckily, Chicago homicide detective Bruce Oh seems to have an open mind, and when Jane discovers a second corpse, as well as a peculiar object used in the murder, Oh is willing to let Jane employ her special expertise in the sleuthing. Aided by best friend Tim, a gay antiques dealer, Jane persists in her dual hunts for the killer and for overlooked bargains. Jane's casual attitude toward her estrangement from her husband might be off-putting to some, but her 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. The publisher would have done better to create a dust jacket that makes this connection clear, however; the bland design of what appear to be two rings, one large, one small, certainly won't help.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.