From Publishers Weekly Several chapters of inconsequential scene-setting precede the poisoning death of insufferable TV producer Lyle Zacharias at the 50th birthday party he has thrown for himself in the South Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up. The guest list doubles as a roster of suspects. Those who see Lyle drop dead in the middle of his celebratory speech include his overprotective Aunt Hattie; his third wife， the pneumatic Tiffany， who may have been cheating on him; his aloof second wife Sybil， who thinks the only useful thing he ever did was father their son Reed; various show-biz types who have good reason to hate him; edgy Lizzie Chapman， the hotel's cook and caterer; and Bea Pepper， whose gift tarts turn out to have been the vehicle for the rare poison that killed Lyle. Bea is also the mother of amateur sleuth Amanda Pepper， star of three previous mysteries， including the Anthony Award-winning Caught Dead in Philadelphia . This time out， Amanda chatters her way to an improbable solution with the help of her boyfriend， homicide detective C. K. Mackenzie， in an annoyingly jokey and overelaborate tale. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Philadelphia's high-school teacher/sometime sleuth Amanda Pepper (I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia， etc.) dutifully escorts her mother Bea to a 50th birthday-party bash--an event paid for by playwright-TV producer Lyle Zacharias， who wants all the important influences in his life at this party he's hosting at a small hotel. But those past relationships take on new significance when Lyle dies of poison after eating dinner. Bimbo-ish current wife Tiffany， having an affair with actor-guest Shepard McCoy， is underwhelmed with sorrow--ditto second wife Sybil， in attendance with her and Lyle's teenaged son Reed. Terry Wiley， a high-school pal whose work Lyle seems to have plagiarized and built a career on， is there， too， and the father-daughter team who own the hotel might also have had a bitter score to settle with the charming， satanic Lyle. Only aged Aunt Hattie seems truly grieved--as Amanda and her policeman friend McKenzie slowly pull together long-buried secrets to reach a tortured conclusion. The road there is a bit tortured， too- -through thickets of Amanda's sometimes witty but mostly self- absorbed meanderings. Blithe but bloated， and only sporadically engrossing. -- Copyright ©1993， Kirkus Associates， LP. All rights reserved. See all Editorial Reviews