The series' heroine, Amanda Pepper, is a thirty-something English teacher at the not-quite select Philly Prep high school. Since the first novel, Caught Dead in Philadelphia, she has been involved with homicide detective C.K. Mackenzie. Their relationship has gradually evolved to the point that they are now living together in relative bliss – the major fly in the ointment being Mackenzie's stubborn refusal to tell Amanda his first name.

Amanda and Mackenzie are attending a society party in the posh Main Line suburb of Radnor, where the street signs are deliberately small and difficult to read. Hey, if you don't already know where you're going in this ritzy neighborhood, you don't belong. At the party, they witness a clash between the hosts, wealthy philanthropists Neddy and Tea Roederer, and Harvey Spiers, the leader of the so-called "Moral Ecologists." Spiers and his followers consider libraries and reading lists to be "moral pollution."

The conflict continues in the following days at Philly Prep, where Spiers demands that the school's principal remove certain offensive books from the library and the Roederers threaten to withdraw their considerable financial support if the principal gives in to the Moral Ecologists' demands. The morning after Amanda appears on a local news show with both Moral Ecologist supporters and opponents, Harvey Spiers is found dead, victim of a brutal murder.

The list of suspects is alarmingly long. The Roederers vehemently opposed Spiers' extreme views, and it is rumored that Spiers was threatening to blackmail Neddy over a past encounter. Spiers' cuckolded wife and abused stepson had reason to hate him, as did his former mistress, the co-leader of the Moral Ecologists, who wanted full control of the group. Mackenzie is sure he knows the identity of the killer, but then a second murder is committed, and the mystery deepens.

Meanwhile, Amanda starts to feel responsible for Spiers' stepson, Jake, who is an aspiring student journalist at the Philly Prep newspaper. But in trying to help Jake, she may be putting herself in danger.

Gillian Roberts, who also writes mainstream novels as Judith Greber, deftly balances dry wit with genuine emotion. Even Amanda's nagging mother, who has been played for laughs in previous novels, takes on a new dimension as her mother's incessant nagging is compared to the parental neglect suffered by so many of Amanda's students. The humor and pathos go nicely hand-in-hand.

The mystery hangs on a bit of a coincidence, but Roberts provides enough subtle clues that the reader is only a few steps behind (or possibly ahead of) Amanda as she finds out the truth. Her involvement in the mystery is natural and subtle – she's not some amateur detective who has no business snooping around, but rather a teacher who finds out the truth as she becomes more deeply involved in the life of a troubled student.

I don't think the prospective reader requires much familiarity with previous Amanda Pepper mysteries to enjoy The Bluest Blood, but I do recommend the entire series. I've heard that Gillian Roberts' newest novel has a new heroine and setting; I truly hope that I have not seen the last of Amanda and the City of Brotherly Love.

--Susan Scribner