American/Cozy Mysteries

Spicing up this novel is an explication of Jane's relationship with her parents, Nellie and Don, who since time immemorial have run the E-Z Way Inn, a local bar and grill where Nellie's soup is one of the best things about downtown Kankakee, a town in the downward slide in the manner of so many small midwestern farm towns - and a theme of this well put together book. Nellie, practical, insanely clean, and very unsentimental, is somewhat of a mystery to the emotional Jane who hoards her things and actually goes to women's groups (Nellie wants to know what in heck they talk about). Things are complicated, of course, when a body is found in Fuzzy's cornfield and it looks like Fuzzy himself is the main suspect. This gentle story is deceptively simple - there's lots of "buried stuff" here - and not just the pennies and rocks that Fuzzy appears to be hiding in his garden for no apparent reason. There's the buried feelings between Jane and her mother as well as the simmering and puzzling relationship between Fuzzy and his wife, Lula. Added to this mix is the idea of Jane's friend, Tim, to put Kankakee on the map by holding a city wide garage sale - a prospect that is making not only Jane, but Tim and the aforementioned Claire Oh, salivate with the idea of the possibilities of the buried stuff that's in Kankakee garages and attics.

This is a sweet story about a mother and daughter, a husband and wife, and one woman's love of "stuff" as well as her ability to solve a mystery - though she's has lots of help, she loves to play Nancy Drew and often refers to her. She even borrows Tim's red "roadster" in one memorable scene.