Seasoned investigator Emma Howe has been in the business so long nothing can surprise her. But her new assistant, an overeducated single mother named Billie August, nearly manages to amaze her. Billie is quick, ambitious, smart. And a lot tougher than she appears. That's a good thing, because Emma has just taken a case that will rock both of their worlds.
Sophie Redmond has come to Emma in a desperate search for her teenage daughter, whom she fears has joined a bizarre cult. In an odd twist of fate, Emma and Billie recognize wheelchair-bound Mrs. Redmond as an insurance scammer they've been tailing for another client. The woman's fake injuries are only one symptom of a family plunge into darkness-a legacy one troubled girl wants desperately to escape.

Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

Literature & Fiction

Roberts, Gillian

United States

Minotaur Books

Whatever Doesn't Kill You: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

Private investigator Emma Howe's hiring of young Billie August (see Time and Trouble, the first book in Gillian Roberts' new series) was an act of desperation. She needed an assistant and could pay very little; Billie needed a job and would take what she could get. But both women were surprised to find that in spite of Billie's inexperience and Emma's tendency to bully, they were slowly coming to respect each other. Now they are faced with two cases involving more than the routine surveillance of suspected insurance fraud perpetrators. A young man of deficient mental ability has been accused of murdering a woman who had befriended him on their daily jogging route. Emma has handed this case to Billie, though the evidence against him is convincing and she has no hope that the younger woman can come up with anything new. Emma herself takes on another case that seems destined to lead to a dead end-- a young woman who knows she is adopted wants to find her birth mother; her adoptive mother refuses to cooperate. There's not much hope that either investigation will find anything helpful, but both the accused young man's mother and the adopted woman are eager to try, and the fees will pay the month's rent. If either detective could extract information from the frightened young man, it would be gentle Billie rather than impatient Emma. Billie, whose own five-year-old son requires a knowing touch, gradually calms the troubled youth; Emma, meanwhile, is making progress on her own case, and the detectives are not only amazed to find that the two seemingly so-different cases are moving closer and closer together, but that they may, indeed, be successful in each. What they also find, almost too late, is that the secrets they are uncovering are leading them into peril.

Seasoned investigator Emma Howe has been in the business so long nothing can surprise her. But her new assistant, an overeducated single mother named Billie August, nearly manages to amaze her. Billie is quick, ambitious, smart. And a lot tougher than she appears. That's a good thing, because Emma has just taken a case that will rock both of their worlds. Sophie Redmond has come to Emma in a desperate search for her teenage daughter, whom she fears has joined a bizarre cult. In an odd twist of fate, Emma and Billie recognize wheelchair-bound Mrs. Redmond as an insurance scammer they've been tailing for another client. The woman's fake injuries are only one symptom of a family plunge into darkness-a legacy one troubled girl wants desperately to escape.

St. Martin's Dead Letter

Single mother Billie August is frustrated with her boss and sleuthing mentor, the gruff, perpetually dissatisfied Emma Howe. So far, their relationship has been a personal and professional disaster. To top it off, Billie seems like the only person in town who thinks mentally disabled Gavin Riddock, accused of killing his only friend, might not be guilty, but her inability to turn up any hard evidence could cost Gavin everything. Now, illness at home and dead ends at work have frayed Billie's nerves. The last thing she needs is to come across Emma Howe in the warpath. Meanwhile, Emma's search for one girl's really mother is being foiled at every turn by the lies and misdirection of the girl's foster mother. When new clues suggest the case may have something to do with Gavin Riddock, seasoned Emma will have to learn to trust her young assistant, and together, mentor and protege must unravel the layers of posh Marin society to uncover the startling truth...

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

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

I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia

Fawcett

"Gillian Roberts is a mystery reader's dream come true." Lia Matera By the Anthony Award-winning author of "I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia," another Amanda Pepper mystery. 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! From the Paperback edition.

With Friends Like These...: An Amanda Pepper Mystery

Ballantine Books

"Here's the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers...giving more wit per page than most writers give per book." -Nancy Pickard She may be a mild-mannered Philadelphia schoolteacher, but when there's murder in the air, Amanda Pepper always manages to teach the police a neat new trick or two. This time America's hot vacation spot, Atlantic City, is the scene of a cold-blooded crime. AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE MYSTERY GUILD

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

"Here's the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers...giving more wit per page than most writers give per book." --Nancy Pickard 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.

In the Dead of Summer (An Amanda Pepper Mystery)

"Here's the Dorothy Parker of mystery writers . . . giving more wit per page than most writers give per book." --Nancy Pickard 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.

Mummers' Curse

"ANOTHER FUNNY PHILLY PUZZLER . . . Notable for how comfortably it occupies the space between cozy and city-grit crime fiction." --Publishers Weekly When a reveling Pierrot is shot dead at the Mummers' Parade in Philadelphia, schoolteacher Amanda Pepper is first just a horrified spectator. But then 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, as she plunges into the Mummers' tight-knit world, where no one seems willing to help her find a dangerous killer. . . . "Entertaining . . . A fun read." --West Coast Review of Books "Delightful." --San Diego Union-Tribune

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roberts, Gillian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Roberts, Gillian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roberts, Gillian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

Whatever Doesn't Kill You: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

Whatever Doesn't Kill You: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery

I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia

With Friends Like These...: An Amanda Pepper Mystery

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

In the Dead of Summer (An Amanda Pepper Mystery)

Mummers' Curse

Mummers' Curse