I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia - Hardcover

Even before I became her editor, starting with her third mystery novel, I was enamored of Gillian Roberts and the Philadelphia-set series she writes about schoolteacher Amanda Pepper. (The author herself was once a schoolteacher in Philadelphia, so she knows whereof she writes.) Gillian's debut, CAUGHT DEAD IN PHILADELPHIA, justly won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel. And subsequent installments confirmed the promise of that first book. What's special about all the Amanda Pepper novels is Amanda's voice (i.e., Gillian's first-person narration): wry, commonsensical, and with commentary that alternates between compassionate and laugh-aloud funny. Maybe the best way to describe the appeal of Gillian Roberts is to quote another top-echelon crime novelist, Nancy Pickard, who says, "Here's the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers, laughing even when -- especially when -- it hurts, and giving more wit per page than most writers give per book." All I'll add is: don't miss Gillian Roberts!

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

A third adventure for warmhearted Philadelphia high-school teacher Amanda Pepper (Caught Dead in Philadelphia, Philly Stakes) starts innocently when Amanda--rummaging through used books brought to school for a charity sale--finds one with margin notes that seem to be a cry for help from a battered wife. After a few false starts, Amanda tracks down the victim--Lydia Teller--just in time to find the body of Lydia's husband Wynn, shot to death on their kitchen floor. Partner with Clifford Schmidt in TLC, a chain of tutoring franchises, Wynn--under a glossy, well-PR'd surface--was a wife-beater, bigamist, and lousy businessman. Lydia is arrested for the killing, but, meanwhile, an attempt on Amanda's life; the appearance of Wynn's furious real wife and grown children; angry threats from teacher-franchisee Neil Quigley--convinced the firm had cheated him--and other incidents make it obvious that a murderer is still at large. Amanda nails him in an overextended confrontation that verges on silly. Our heroine can be funny; her oddball romance with policeman Mackenzie has its charm; there are intriguing minor characters, but a steady flow of self-deprecating asides nears the cutesy and slows the pace here. Overall, then: a lighthearted but sometimes heavy- footed entertainment. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.