With Friends Like These (An Amanada Pepper Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gillian Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 1994 | Series: An Amanada Pepper Mystery

"Gillian Roberts is a mystery reader's dream come true." Lia Matera
By the Anthony Award-winning author of "I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia," another Amanda Pepper mystery. Well-known Broadway playwright and TV producer Lyle Zacharias is throwing himself a lavish birthday party in his hometown of Philadelphia. Guests include his current wife, ex-wives, friends, former partners -- not to mention Amanda Pepper and her own irrepressible mother, Bea. Yet when Lyle drops dead in the middle of a speech, it appears the likely perpetrator is none other than Bea, whose gift was fifty delicious, but apparently poisoned, tarts!
It's up to Amanda to clear her mother's name and find the real murderer . . . before he or she strikes again! But Amanda herself may be the next target! Who says teaching isn't exciting? With any more excitement, Amanda will have to retire before she hits thirty-one . . . if she lives that long!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Several chapters of inconsequential scene-setting precede the poisoning death of insufferable TV producer Lyle Zacharias at the 50th birthday party he has thrown for himself in the South Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up. The guest list doubles as a roster of suspects. Those who see Lyle drop dead in the middle of his celebratory speech include his overprotective Aunt Hattie; his third wife, the pneumatic Tiffany, who may have been cheating on him; his aloof second wife Sybil, who thinks the only useful thing he ever did was father their son Reed; various show-biz types who have good reason to hate him; edgy Lizzie Chapman, the hotel's cook and caterer; and Bea Pepper, whose gift tarts turn out to have been the vehicle for the rare poison that killed Lyle. Bea is also the mother of amateur sleuth Amanda Pepper, star of three previous mysteries, including the Anthony Award-winning Caught Dead in Philadelphia . This time out, Amanda chatters her way to an improbable solution with the help of her boyfriend, homicide detective C. K. Mackenzie, in an annoyingly jokey and overelaborate tale.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Philadelphia's high-school teacher/sometime sleuth Amanda Pepper (I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia, etc.) dutifully escorts her mother Bea to a 50th birthday-party bash--an event paid for by playwright-TV producer Lyle Zacharias, who wants all the important influences in his life at this party he's hosting at a small hotel. But those past relationships take on new significance when Lyle dies of poison after eating dinner. Bimbo-ish current wife Tiffany, having an affair with actor-guest Shepard McCoy, is underwhelmed with sorrow--ditto second wife Sybil, in attendance with her and Lyle's teenaged son Reed. Terry Wiley, a high-school pal whose work Lyle seems to have plagiarized and built a career on, is there, too, and the father-daughter team who own the hotel might also have had a bitter score to settle with the charming, satanic Lyle. Only aged Aunt Hattie seems truly grieved--as Amanda and her policeman friend McKenzie slowly pull together long-buried secrets to reach a tortured conclusion. The road there is a bit tortured, too- -through thickets of Amanda's sometimes witty but mostly self- absorbed meanderings. Blithe but bloated, and only sporadically engrossing. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (July 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345377842
• ISBN-13: 978-0345377845
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.7 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Book!!!!, March 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: With Friends Like These (An Amanada Pepper Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a truly great book. A little bit of mystery and a whole lot of fun. Amanda Pepper and crew are so funny. The whole series is wonderful and this is one of the best.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Designed To Make The Reader Feel Good, July 13, 2002

By 

Peter Kenney (Birmingham, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With Friends Like These (An Amanada Pepper Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Broadway playwright and TV producer Lyle Zacharias drops dead at his own birthday party. Amanda's mother Bea becomes the prime suspect after the police realize that Bea made the poisoned tarts which caused Lyle's untimely death. Amanda's big task now is to prove her mother's innocence by solving the case. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE is a mystery story designed to make the reader feel good.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, the Amanda Pepper I remember fondly!, December 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: With Friends Like These (An Amanada Pepper Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

With Friends Like These is a return to the Amanda Pepper I became enchanted with, the wonderful mystery series, not the heavy handed social commentary of How I Spent My Summer Vacation.