I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia (Hardcover)

by Gillian Roberts (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews
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.

Product Description
Book three in the Anthony Award-winning mystery series featuring Amanda Pepper, the resourceful English teacher at Philly Prep.
Amanda is sorting books for a school fundraiser, when she comes across a book for battered women that contains a special and frightening message from its original, anonymous owner. Desperate to learn who donated the books, Amanda's search leads her to deliberate brutality and its cold-blooded consequences.
Gillian Roberts is "the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers, laughing when--especially when--it hurts, and giving more wit per page than most writers give per book."
Nancy Pickard


From the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (June 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345377818
• ISBN-13: 978-0345377814
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,481,648 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm a big Amanda Pepper fan but this is probably my least , January 16, 2005

By	M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia (An Amanda Pepper mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

favorite book that I've read so far in the series (and I've read most of them). Roberts typically uses as a theme (like a muscial theme) a piece of classic literature that schoolteacher/detective Amanda Pepper is teaching to her students. In this book, the literary work is "The Taming of the Shrew" and the theme is spousal abuse. I realize how important the issue is, but she was preaching to the choir.

And the book does get preachy, although in a literary novel dialogue way. Amanda is sorting books for a used book sale at her school, Philly Prep, when she comes across a book on spousal abuse. Since the subject has come up with a student in a discussion of the Shrew, she thinks she'll set it aside for the student -- but then notices someone has written notes in it and that whoever wrote the notes believes her husband will kill her. Amanda sets out to try to find the woman to see if she can help. In the meantime, she's trying to get a job moonlighting as a tutor with an organization kind of like Sylvan -- but a fellow teacher is having trouble in his relationship with the franchisers, and he warns her against it. Needless to say, these seemingly separate plot lines come together in the book.

This is well written, but more serious than many of the books in the series, and a bit too earnest for the kind of mystery I expect from Ms. Roberts. I might also add that like most of the series, I was way ahead of Mandy Pepper in the detecting of the spousal abuse victim and of the killer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Philly mystery, November 10, 2006

By	Barbara M. Kelly "Barb" (western NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia (An Amanda Pepper mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Amanda Pepper is an appealing heroine I can relate to. She is literate,
concerned about her relationship with her police detective boyfriend and inquisitive enough to get herself deep into mystery solving.

I definitely want to read the other titles in the series.Lots of local color, historical and literary asides.Good character development and intriguing mystery.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

This review is from: I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia (An Amanda Pepper mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a really good book and one of the best in the series. Amanda Pepper is a well developed, funny character. She gets a little help from her policeman boyfriend and family. I recommend the entire Pepper series.