Bluest Blood (Amanda Pepper Mysteries) - Hardcover

Roberts, Gillian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345403266 ISBN 13: 9780345403261

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998

Synopsis

In her Amanda Pepper mysteries, Gillian Roberts evokes the City of Brotherly Love in all its charm, mischief, and menace. Now she turns her wickedly perceptive eye to the residents of Philadelphia's posh Main Line district, the legendary land of the rich and well-to-do, where the wealthy live their very private lives--and occasionally commit very scandalous crimes.

Aristocratic Philadelphia natives may think the bluest blood in America flows through their veins, but sometimes outsiders with large fortunes can buy their way into this privileged company--and glamorous newcomers Neddy and Tea Roederer have wealth aplenty.

For English teacher Amanda Pepper, the champagne gala on behalf of Philly Prep's library is a night to remember. After all, it is her introduction to ultra-rich society--an evening so extravagant that nothing can tarnish the party . . . not even a group of protesters outside burning the host in effigy.

But Amanda senses deeper trouble, and her intuition is right on target. The Moral Ecologists, who vehemently feel that "reading pollutes the mind," will do anything to advance their agenda. And Amanda's new affluent acquaintances prove to be just as deceitful and violent--as she learns firsthand that the bluest blood bleeds just as red. Especially with murder.

With her customary bons mots, elegant prose, and storytelling prowess, Gillian Roberts upholds her enviable reputation as "the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers . . . giving more wit per page than most writers give per book." *

* Nancy Pickard

About this title

From the Publisher:

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

About the Author:

Gillian Roberts is the nom de mystère of mainstream novelist Judith Greber. Winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery for Caught Dead in Philadelphia, she is also the author of Philly Stakes, I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia, With Friends Like These . . . , How I Spent My Summer Vacation, In the Dead of Summer, and The Mummers' Curse. Formerly an English teacher in Philadelphia, Gillian Roberts now lives in California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0345403266
• ISBN 13: 9780345403261
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 230