Caught Dead In Philadelphia

Amanda is suspected of murder when an acquaintance is found dead in front of her fireplace. She joins forces with Officer Mackenzie to solve the case.

Philadelphia spells danger for an English teacher turned amateur sleuth in the first three novels of this Anthony Award–winning mystery series. Caught Dead in Philadelphia When Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper finds a murdered colleague in her living room, she needs to clear her name—while trying not to become the next victim. But the only clue to the real killer’s identity is a Winnie-the-Pooh locket. Good thing handsome homicide detective C.K. Mackenzie is on her side. Philly Stakes When Amanda tries to get her students in the Christmas spirit by serving a meal for the homeless, the plan fatally backfires. Alexander “Sandy” Clausen, a politically ambitious parent, turns the event into a lavishly catered photo-op. But when Sandy is killed and his troubled daughter confesses, Amanda gets wrapped up in the investigation with her sometime boyfriend, Det. C.K. Mackenzie. I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia Amanda is sorting through donated books when she comes across a note that reads like an anonymous cry for help. Desperately searching for the troubled woman, Amanda locates her just in time to find the woman’s husband murdered. With the woman wrongly suspected, it’s up to Amanda and Det. C.K. MacKenzie to see the real killer get booked. “[Roberts is] the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers . . . giving more wit per page than most writers give per book.” —Nancy Pickard, award-winning author of the Jenny Cain series

Teacher and amateur sleuth Amanda Pepper and her fiancé, C. K. Mackenzie, take on an investigation into the demise of Tomas Severin, who apparently fell to his death at the Philly Prep school, and uncover a cup of herbal tea laced with a dangerous party drug, as well as a host of suspects who wanted the victim dead. Reprint.

Amanda's friend Sasha's stepmother has just committed suicide—although, according to Sasha, Phoebe Ennis would never have killed herself, especially not while having a drink and wearing a red silk blouse and red sandals with four-inch heels. Amanda isn't persuaded, but reluctantly agrees to help investigate the woman's demise, though the evidence for foul play is slim. True, the middle-aged compulsive collector of knickknacks wasn't universally loved. Phoebe's own son hated her, and she bored her friends to death with hints of her "royal" lineage. And with four marriages behind her, she was already preparing to announce her renewed availability on the Net. But when another woman is found dead in Phoebe's house, it becomes clear that something is indeed murderously amiss, and much closer to home than Amanda or anyone else could have imagined.

Traditionally, Old Philadelphians keep a low profile. They associate with one another and leave life as discreetly as they have lived it. So Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper, who thinks her only current problems are keeping her well-meaning family from hijacking her wedding, is understandably stunned to discover a perfect specimen of the species dying at the foot of the school's marble staircase. It is anybody's guess what led to Tomas Severin's apparent fall and, indeed, why he was in the building in the first place. More questions arise when Amanda enters her otherwise empty classroom and finds a take-out cup of herbal tea laced with the party drug her students call roofies. Why would a middle-aged Philadelphian have a date-rape drug in his tea? Why does he have Amanda's name scribbled in his pocket notebook? Hired by a member of the Severin family household, Amanda and her fiance, C.K. Mackenzie, realize that many people felt their lives would improve if Tom's life ended--making it seemingly impossible to determine who'd been harassing Severin with threatening phone calls. Tom Severin leaves behind angry ex-wives, one recently dropped fiancee, and the current (about to be exed) Mrs. Tomas Severin. As secrets are unearthed, and cruelties old and new revealed, it's apparent that the end of Tom is just the beginning of the grief he caused."

This volume is a comprehensive collection of critical essays on The Taming of the Shrew, and includes extensive discussions of the play's various printed versions and its theatrical productions. Aspinall has included only those essays that offer the most influential and controversial arguments surrounding the play. The issues discussed include gender, authority, female autonomy and unruliness, courtship and marriage, language and speech, and performance and theatricality.

Revision of: The mystery readers' advisory: the librarian's clues to murder and mayhem / John Charles, Joanna Morrison, [and] Candace Clark. -- Chicago: American Library Association, 2002.

In her new novel starring Philadelphia schoolteacher Amanda Pepper, Gillian Roberts once again mixes mystery and mirth. This time Roberts explores Philadelphia's unique flesh and blood "historical monument"-- the Mummers, who live (and perhaps are willing to die) for a few hours of glory every New Year's Day. The famous Mummers' Parade is an extravaganza that draws enormous crowds who cheer through chattering teeth, as more than thirty thousand clowns, string bands, and fancy brigades strut their stuff up Broad Street. But this year, while the music blares and the Mummers dance, a reveling Pierrot suddenly sinks to the ground, shot dead. Amanda is, at first, only a horrified spectator. But when the prime suspect--her friend and fellow teacher at Philly Prep--falsely claims to have been with her at the time of the murder, Amanda can no longer stay on the sidelines. Is the murder a flare-up of deadly rivalries? Is it connected with the disappearance, the week before Christmas, of another Mummer, the heir to a meat-packing family? Does someone disapprove of the Mummers' feathers, sequins, and string bands? And why is no one in the tight-knit world Amanda investigates willing to tell the truth about anything? With Amanda on the scene, the who in whodunit doesn't stay secret for long. In The Mummers' Curse, Gillian Roberts is, as always, at the head of the parade.