Philly Stakes PDF Download

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611872510
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
Amanda attempts to instill the spirit of Christmas by having her students prepare and serve a meal for the homeless, but her plan backfires. A wealthy and politically ambitious parent, Alexander "Sandy" Clausen, turns the event into a lavish, catered publicity and personal photo-op. Worse, his party ends in fire and death with his daughter, Amanda's student, one of three people who insist they alone started the fire. Amanda wants to solve the crime with her sometime boyfriend and cop C.K. Mackenzie, and is equally determined to teach the the elusive killer a lesson or two as well.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611872723
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
He says so. I believe him. He will kill me soon." As far as Amanda is concerned, this cry for help cannot be ignored. Her search for the desperate victim leads from the corridors of Philly Prep to the cobblestone streets of Society Hill, and the smooth avenues of the upscale Main Line. Along the way Amanda learns a startling lesson about deliberate brutality - and its unpredictable and cold-blooded consequences.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads, LLC
ISBN: 1611879108
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 692

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Book Description
Philadelphia spells danger for an English teacher turned amateur sleuth in the first three novels of this Anthony Award–winning mystery series. Caught Dead in Philadelphia When Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper finds a murdered colleague in her living room, she needs to clear her name—while trying not to become the next victim. But the only clue to the real killer’s identity is a Winnie-the-Pooh locket. Good thing handsome homicide detective C.K. Mackenzie is on her side. Philly Stakes When Amanda tries to get her students in the Christmas spirit by serving a meal for the homeless, the plan fatally backfires. Alexander “Sandy” Clausen, a politically ambitious parent, turns the event into a lavishly catered photo-op. But when Sandy is killed and his troubled daughter confesses, Amanda gets wrapped up in the investigation with her sometime boyfriend, Det. C.K. Mackenzie. I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia Amanda is sorting through donated books when she comes across a note that reads like an anonymous cry for help. Desperately searching for the troubled woman, Amanda locates her just in time to find the woman’s husband murdered. With the woman wrongly suspected, it’s up to Amanda and Det. C.K. MacKenzie to see the real killer get booked. “[Roberts is] the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers . . . giving more wit per page than most writers give per book.” —Nancy Pickard, award-winning author of the Jenny Cain series

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611876435
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Amanda's friend Sasha's stepmother has just committed suicide—although, according to Sasha, Phoebe Ennis would never have killed herself, especially not while having a drink and wearing a red silk blouse and red sandals with four-inch heels. Amanda isn't persuaded, but reluctantly agrees to help investigate the woman's demise, though the evidence for foul play is slim. True, the middle-aged compulsive collector of knickknacks wasn't universally loved. Phoebe's own son hated her, and she bored her friends to death with hints of her "royal" lineage. And with four marriages behind her, she was already preparing to announce her renewed availability on the Net. But when another woman is found dead in Phoebe's house, it becomes clear that something is indeed murderously amiss, and much closer to home than Amanda or anyone else could have imagined.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611874157
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
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.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611875862
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Traditionally, Old Philadelphians keep a low profile. They associate with one another and leave life as discreetly as they have lived it. So Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper, who thinks her only current problems are keeping her well-meaning family from hijacking her wedding, is understandably stunned to discover a perfect specimen of the species dying at the foot of the school's marble staircase. It is anybody's guess what led to Tomas Severin's apparent fall and, indeed, why he was in the building in the first place. More questions arise when Amanda enters her otherwise empty classroom and finds a take-out cup of herbal tea laced with the party drug her students call roofies. Why would a middle-aged Philadelphian have a date-rape drug in his tea? Why does he have Amanda's name scribbled in his pocket notebook? Hired by a member of the Severin family household, Amanda and her fiance, C.K. Mackenzie, realize that many people felt their lives would improve if Tom's life ended--making it seemingly impossible to determine who'd been harassing Severin with threatening phone calls. Tom Severin leaves behind angry ex-wives, one recently dropped fiancee, and the current (about to be exed) Mrs. Tomas Severin. As secrets are unearthed, and cruelties old and new revealed, it's apparent that the end of Tom is just the beginning of the grief he caused."

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads, LLC
ISBN: 1611879124
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 713

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Book Description
Three tales of murder in Philadelphia featuring the English teacher and amateur sleuth by the award-winning “Dorothy Parker of mystery writers” (Nancy Pickard, author of the Jenny Cain series). The Mummer’s Curse “Philadelphia’s New Year’s Day Mummers’ Parade, a splashy, fiercely competitive affair, turns murderous” when a parade clown is shot dead and one of Amanda’s Philly Prep colleagues is suspected “in yet another funny Philly puzzler for schoolteacher Amanda Pepper” (Publishers Weekly). The Bluest Blood Amanda looks forward to an ultra-elegant fundraiser in a fabled Main Line mansion to benefit Philly Prep’s library. But the fairytale evening takes a dark turn thanks to a protest group vehemently opposing any books that “pollute the mind.” When the conflict becomes deadly, Amanda takes “another swift and intriguing spin through the sometimes murderous precincts of Philadelphia” (Publishers Weekly). Adam & Evil When a high school senior shows signs of mental illness, Amanda attempts to get him help, but she’s rebuffed by his parents. Then, when the same boy becomes the prime suspect in a murder at the Philadelphia Main Library—and runs away—Amanda has no choice but to run after him. Even if it means running headlong into a killer’s path. Adam & Evil includes a new introduction from author Gillian Roberts and an exclusive interview with Amanda Pepper herself!

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611876508
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
Have you ever thought about writing a mystery, and gave up the idea because you didn’t know where to begin? Now is your chance to write the mystery of your dreams. You Can Write a Mystery, written by Gillian Roberts, author of the Anthony Award-winning Amanda Pepper series, will help you start your mystery, and guide you through to the end. With this book you'll learn how to build your story from the ground up, based on what Roberts calls the "Seven Cs." Examples and exercises will help you complete your story—filled with cliffhangers, intriguing characters and hooks. This book offers practical suggestions for handling problems likely to arise during the writing process. You will learn: ·The Seven Cs your book can't do without—characters, conflict, causality, complications, change, crisis and closure ·The Fifteen Commandments for mystery ·How to design your sleuth ·How to hide clues and exploit red herrings ·Research techniques ·How to develop a style, find a tone and construct a killer plot In addition to practical writing advice, Roberts offers expert guidance for editing, revising and submitting a top-notch manuscript, whether for traditional or independent publishing. With its easy-to-understand format, You Can Write a Mystery will help take you from writer…to accomplished mystery writer.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611876044
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
No matter the season, the Philadelphia private school where Amanda Pepper teaches English is never a center of tranquility. But with Halloween and the annual Mischief Night party only days away, the hope is that nothing more than old-fashioned vandalism and pranks will take place. No such luck. Trouble erupts long before the witching hour, as the school is plagued by a series of mishaps ranging from the trivial to the potentially deadly–and most of which seem to center on a group of popular seniors. A fire alarm rings during a test; all the orange and black paint is stolen from the art room; the mustard packets are taken from the cafeteria. Perhaps more serious: chemicals and equipment disappear from the science lab, as does one of Amanda's exams and her attendance book. And the dapper new science instructor, Juan Reyes, receives a threatening message recalling that a teacher was once flayed to death by his students. As Amanda juggles teaching, moonlighting as a private investigator with her husband, C.K. Mackenzie, and coping with C.K.'s visiting sixteen-year-old high school-dropout nephew, she tries to find out what, or who, is behind the ominous events. Before she can unmask the tricksters, the turmoil in the school increases when students rise up against the administration's censuring (and censoring) of a campus poet. Then unrest escalates into a lethally explosive menace, and Amanda receives a warning that there is more–and far worse–to come.

Author: Gillian Roberts
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1611879116
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
Books four through six in the award-winning Amanda Pepper mystery series are now available in one volume! This collection includes: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE 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! HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION Amanda Pepper's friend Sasha has a photography assignment in Atlantic City, and she invites her broke schoolteacher friend to come along for a free mini-vacation. But the two quickly discover there's more to lose than money at the shore when Sasha finds a stranger bludgeoned to death in her bed. When a witness identifies Sasha as having been at the scene, she Goes Directly To Jail and does not pass "Go." Under the boardwalk and between the slot machines, and sometimes with the help of a motley crew of gamblers, Amanda works to unearth the truth and free her friend. IN THE DEAD OF SUMMER Mellow old Philadelphia, where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have flourished for centuries, now has a new claim to fame. The City of Brotherly Love has been proclaimed number one in the nation...for hostility. English teacher Amanda Pepper, crabbily gearing up for summer school at exclusive Philly Prep, feels she fits right in with the hostility mode. And it's going to get worse. Amanda gets her first prickling of unease in her own classroom, where a reading of Romeo and Juliet activates some very strange chemistry. Then the computer science teacher begins receiving anonymous "go-back-to-Africa" phone calls. A young Vietnamese boy dies in a drive-by shooting. And late one night, outside a Chinatown massage parlor, student April Tuong is kidnapped. Random violence? Perhaps. But Amanda refuses to let gentle April vanish without at least asking a few questions, starting in her own classroom. Gillian Roberts's Philadelphia is the real thing. So, too, are her wit and humor, and her gripping story of Amanda's tenacious search for the missing girl--along the brick streets of historic Philadelphia, in exotic Chinatown, and through the shady, sinister back alleys of the impoverished. The truth, when she finds it, is appalling, deadly, and much too close to home.