CAUGHT DEAD IN PHILADELPHIA

Rating:
Summary: There was no "there" there
Review: Although I enjoyed the humor of Roberts' writing while I listened to this book on tape, I felt like the solution to the mystery came up a little lacking. I don't enjoy it when the motive lies within a situation that the reader can't possibly know about (and isn't TOLD about) until the end of the book). I felt like the witty writing style was annoying at times, as if it was covering up for a weak mystery.

I did, however, very much like the developing relationship between Amanda Pepper and C.K. McKenzie. I'm usually bored by the seemingly mandatory "lead character falls in love with the detective" plot, but in this case, I very much enjoyed it. Maybe it was the excellent reading of the story by the narrator?

I am holding out hope that the next book in this series will have a stronger mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Where was the mystery?
Review: Although I enjoyed the humor of Roberts' writing while I listened to this book on tape, I felt like the solution to the mystery came up a little lacking. I don't enjoy it when the motive lies within a situation that the reader can't possibly know about (and isn't TOLD about) until the end of the book). I felt like the witty writing style was annoying at times, as if it was covering up for a weak mystery.

I did, however, very much like the developing relationship between Amanda Pepper and C.K. McKenzie. I'm usually bored by the seemingly mandatory "lead character falls in love with the detective" plot, but in this case, I very much enjoyed it. Maybe it was the excellent reading of the story by the narrator?

I am holding out hope that the next book in this series will have a stronger mystery.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Likeable Heroine
Review: Amanda Pepper is a thirty-year-old unmarried English teacher at elitist Philadelphia Prep and an amateur detective. She is a very likeable heroine and the book is consistently funny throughout. It is easy to understand why the author received an Anthony Award for best first mystery for this novel.

Rating:
Summary: There was no "there" there
Review: I opened up this web page with the intent of reviewing the last book I completed. I finished the book less than a week ago, and no kidding, I had to rack my brains to remember what book it was (I looked it up under the "Your Account" link of the amazon.com page). Then I had to rack my brains to recall what the book was about. That should tell you something.

The author's writing is lively and witty but the plot was weak and forgettable. By the time I got to the end, I really lost interest in who the culprit was. I had a hard time caring throughout this book.

I would give Roberts another try, recognizing that this was a first novel.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent first mystery
Review: This is the third book I've read by Gillian Roberts but the first in the series -- I'm doing it backwards. This was still an excellent book, but not as polished as the two later books I've read. Still, Philadelphia "detective" heroine English teacher Amanda Pepper is just as likeable and funny from the start (although I think the books get funnier), and the romantic chemistry with Louisiana-born CK (in later books boyfriend and meets her as homicide detective in tihs book) is there from the start.

Amanda's involvement with murder mysteries begin when a rain-soaked part-time teacher at her school shows up first thing in the morning on the doorstep of her charming little colonial home. The ditzy visitor (she's an actress) is not making much sense, but Amanda has to get to work and leaves the jabbering woman (unwillingly) in her home where the soon-to-be victim says she's going to take a nap. In no time at all, as the reader discovers in the first few pages, she has been killed. The police at first suspect Amanda -- it was her home, she knew the victim, was the one who found her, and has apparently been telling some untruths to the witchy school secretary. Amanda is quickly drawn up into solving this murder, in part because it becomes clear quickly that her life may be in danger.

I am looking forward to reading the whole series. OK, maybe this is a series for literate women who like funny, gutsy women "detectives" with sexy boyfriends... but the writing is high quality and the plotting improves in future books in the series (in this one, I spotted the killer about half-way through the book, but then I read a LOT of mysteries and like to think I'm good at that.)