In Gillian Roberts's captivating novels of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, with its narrow streets and venerable architecture, can suddenly shiver in the icy winds of menace. Then it becomes a startlingly deceptive place, where evildoers masquerade as Old Philadelphians and law-abiding folk stand accused of unspeakable crimes.

Philly Prep English teacher Amanda Pepper isn't sure what category her bright senior student Adam Evans falls into, but she fears for him. Increasingly erratic, unkempt, and isolated, Adam is an accident waiting to happen. So when a young woman is murdered at the landmark Free Library while Amanda and her class are touring the premises, Adam--now mysteriously missing--becomes the prime suspect.

But unlike the police--including her detective boyfriend--Amanda is dead certain that Adam is both innocent and in terrible danger. And he's not alone. For the more Amanda sifts through the layers of the victim's life, the closer she comes to losing her own.

Stylish, literate, darkly humorous, with a matchless feeling for characters and locale, the novels of Gillian Roberts always deliver the goods. Her sparkling ninth Amanda Pepper mystery proves yet again that she is indeed "the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers . . . giving more wit per page than most writers give per book."