After helping to solve several murder cases, Amanda is now an official apprentice private investigator working with her fiancé, ex-cop C.K. Mackenzie. Severin’s family hires the couple to check out their suspicions about the clan matriarch’s much younger, presumably gold-digging boyfriend, but the more Amanda learns about the Severin the more she realizes there are numerous people who would benefit from his death. But sleuthing and teaching aren’t the only activities taking up Amanda’s time; she and C.K. are trying to plan their wedding, despite the overbearing attention of her mother, sister and future mother-in-law. The “Mafiosettes” insist that decisions about color schemes, rental halls and invitations should take priority over everything else, but Amanda wants to concentrate on her case, especially when she discovers that one of her students has a surprising connection to the dead man.  

Roberts has a distinctive style that combines dry wit with understated emotion. Amanda pokes gentle fun at her students’ adolescent melodramas (“The laws of physics are suspended in high school, because any action, no matter how insignificant, can produce a reaction that is operatic in intensity.”) but she also cares about and encourages them. The series is strengthened by Roberts’ ability to echo the mystery’s theme in the material Amanda teaches to her students; in this case, clues to the human dynamics that led to Tomas Severin’s death can be found in the novels of John Steinbeck. The often tumultuous relationship between Amanda and C.K. has mellowed into a strong partnership, and although she despairs of surviving the wedding that “the Mafiosettes” are forcing on her, she never doubts her feelings for her fiancé.  

The investigation into Tomas Severin’s death is fairly low-key without any significant dark corners or life-threatening situations, but it maintains the reader’s interest through the complex interpersonal dynamics and incisive characterizations. Amanda keeps reminding her relatives that she is only getting married once (and therefore should be able to plan her own wedding) but fortunately for the mystery reader, she and C.K. can solve as many crimes as Robertson’s fertile mind can dream up. Hopefully that means we’ll continue to see much more of this opinionated but warm-hearted sleuth.  

--Susan Scribner