Amanda Pepper is a Philadelphia English teacher whose curiosity and sharp mind keep pulling her into murder investigations throughout Gillian Roberts’s long-running cozy mystery series. Teaching at a prestigious prep school gives her access to Philadelphia’s upper social circles, where motives for murder are never in short supply.
Across fourteen novels starting with the Anthony Award-winning Caught Dead in Philadelphia (1987), Pepper proves that a good teacher’s skills — patience, observation, and the ability to read people — translate surprisingly well to detective work. Her investigations take her through Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and social strata while she balances grading papers, navigating relationships, and staying alive.
Reading Order
See the complete Amanda Pepper reading order for all books in the series.