"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."
"In the stately nineteenth-century homes on Philadelphia’s Delancey Street, the wilder passions scarcely ruffle the peace. Murder is unthinkable, particularly a murder involving an upscale book discussion group, of which schoolteacher Amanda Pepper is a devoted member.
Nevertheless, on the day after a heated discussion of a fictional heroine’s suicide, book group member Helen Coulter falls to her death from her roof garden. Helen’s death is declared a suicide but Amanda is convinced otherwise. Why is this admirable woman dead? And if she was killed, who performed the heinous act?
Amanda’s investigations will draw her into a zone of great danger, where Helen Coulter’s ice-hearted killer is once more ready to strike. …"
"Who killed Liza Nichols? Was it her fiancé, the would-be senator with a shocking secret to hide? Or the senator’s mother, a society matron determined to find the best of everything—including a wife—for her son? Who was the intended recipient of the Winnie-the-Pooh necklace Liza had purchased before her death? And, most important, what was the secret that had cost Liza her life?
When the beautiful Liza Nichols knocks on Amanda Pepper’s front door early one Monday morning, she throws the schoolteacher’s comfortable routine wildly awry. When Amanda arrives home from school later that day, she discovers Liza’s lifeless body slumped on the floor. To make matters worse, Amanda is named the primary murder suspect. In a desperate effort to clear her name, Amanda joins forces with the handsome detective assigned to the case, giving him advice and doing some unofficial snooping of her town."
"In Gillian Roberts's captivating novels of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, with its narrow streets and venerable architecture, can suddenly shiver in the icy winds of menace. Then it becomes a startlingly deceptive place, where evildoers masquerade as Old Philadelphians and law-abiding folk stand accused of unspeakable crimes.
Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper isn't sure what category her bright senior student Adam Evans falls into, but she fears for him. Increasingly erratic, unkempt, and isolated, Adam is an accident waiting to happen. So when a young woman is murdered at the landmark Free Library while Amanda and her class are touring the premises, Adam—now mysteriously missing—becomes the prime suspect.
But unlike the police—including her detective boyfriend—Amanda is dead certain that Adam is both innocent and in terrible danger. And he's not alone. For the more Amanda sifts through the layers of the victim's life, the closer she comes to losing her own.
Stylish, literate, darkly humorous, with a matchless feeling for characters and locale, the novels of Gillian Roberts always deliver the goods. Her sparkling ninth Amanda Pepper mystery proves yet again that she is indeed 'the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers … giving more wit per page than most writers give per book.'*
*Nancy Pickard"
Join our community for the latest bookish news, reading recommendations, exclusive opening extracts, author events and competitions. It\'s all free. And enter a monthly draw to win a £50 Gift Card. See past winners here
