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Jane Wheel thinks of herself as a 'picker', someone who goes to auctions and yard sales, antique and flea-markets, to pick through other people's for-sale unwanted property to see if she can find that hidden valuable to keep for herself or sell at a profit. She also is apprenticing as a PI under the tutelage of Detective Oh of the Kankakee, Illinois, police department and has already made a name for herself as an amateur sleuth. When a filmmaker, Bix Bixby from LA, calls Jane and asks to make a movie about her last case, Jane refuses at first, but with her partner and best buddy Tim's urging and upgrade manipulation, Jane is off to Hollywood! Right away Jane is surprised to find that a former boyfriend from college, Jeb, is in charge of the group who will be writing her story. She feels that something is off, but with all the 'picker' possibilities in Hollywood to be perused, Jane goes along for the fun of it. Before long there's an explosion of a prop that wounds Bix, and Jane herself runs across a recently stabbed body of a man she thinks is Bix's business partner. Bix asks Jane to use her talent as an investigator to find out who is trying to harm her and her friends. This is the first of this series that I've read and I found it to be enjoyable but weak. Jane and Tim are fun characters but the mystery and murder section of the story is rather anemic. Jane travels from Illinois to LA and, what a coincidence! Her mentor Lieutenant Oh just happens to be visiting LA at the same time and his relative just happens to be in the same hospital that Bix winds up in. In order for her to be able to work or solve the mystery, Lieutenant Oh had to be involved in this story because, obviously, Jane can't solve any crime on her own. Tim, one of the main characters, seems to be moving to LA, so the next book in the series will be lacking the friendship bantering that this book uses to such a high degree and contributed so much to the fun of the story. I can't help but think that the next in the series will lack most of the high points of this volume. There's no real tension to the mystery and no real mystery as to the guilty party in this installment to this Jane Wheel series. HOLLYWOOD STUFF is fast reading but not terribly involving.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, July 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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