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Life is getting complicated for Amanda Pepper, part time amateur sleuth and full-time English teacher to Philly Prep¹s underachievers. A longtime single female with a handsome Southern cop as her ³significant other,² her status is about to change. She and her companion, ³C.K.² have agreed to end their single life together--by getting married. Amanda's mother rejoices and her sister, Beth-the-successfully-married-one wants to plan the entire affair. Adding to the list of life-changes, C.K. decides to leave his job on the police force to complete his Ph.D. in Criminology. To supplement Amanda's minimal teachers pay, C.K. has acquired a P.I.¹s license to work part time for Bright¹s Detective Agency with Amanda as his apprentice. For her first "case," he sends her on a fact-finding visit to Mrs. Claire Fairchild, who wants her future daughter-in-law investigated. Mrs. Fairchild suspects that Emmie Cade is a fortune-hunter out to snare her precious son, Leo. What begins as a minor investigation into one woman's history turns into a labyrinth of aliases, husbands dead under suspicious circumstances and vicious rumors that keep Amanda hopping until a sudden death brings the research to a close. Or does it? Amanda is certain it must be murder and begins digging deeper "to find the truth of the matter." She insists to the long-suffering C.K. that she must keep an eye on Emmie Cade, even as she prepares for the stressful event of meeting her husband¹s parents, traveling all the way from Louisiana just to meet the ³new bride.² In between snooping and getting ready for her future in-laws, she must continue to deal with her disorderly students and a hysterical parent¹s horror when she learns that her innocent child is reading LORD of the FLIES in this terror-filled world. Will the perils never end? CLAIRE and PRESENT DANGER begins as a fun read with believable characters and, despite all the changes from previous novels, an interesting plot. However, as we follow Amanda following Emmie Cade¹s earlier life and interviewing her ³best friend² whom Amanda meets by coincidence, it becomes a bit exhausting. Emmie Cade is the beautiful fiancée about whom the rumors are flying, as well as cryptic notes being sent to her future mother-in-law. Yet she isn¹t as palpable in the novel as the housekeeper, an illegal alien about to give birth who eventually disappears and becomes one of the suspects when the sudden death is ruled a homicide. Although it is possible that one woman can teach recalcitrant students at school all day, deal with a ³little Miss Sunshine² school receptionist who writes messages in code, adjust to an impending marriage, investigate a stranger¹s history and then handle the culture shock of meeting her fiancés unique Southern family, all of this seems a bit too much for one person and one novel. Background is good for showing the couple¹s cultural differences, but it overshadowed the ongoing storyline of Emmie Cade versus her future mother-in-law, Claire Fairchild. This reviewer won¹t give up on Amanda Pepper and her future adventures, but hopes the future "Mrs. C.K." has a few moments in between adventures to take a few deep breaths, and exhale.
Reviewed by Tess Allegra, May 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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