Eclectic Bookshelf: Moonlit Metaphors - Page 6

A Hole in Juan

Despite the play on words, the Juan in Gillian Roberts' latest Amanda Pepper mystery doesn't actually end up perforated with bullet holes. Nonetheless, one does have to wonder why anyone in Philadelphia would pay to send their kids to the private school where Amanda teaches, given the number of rather brutal mysteries she has had to solve involving students or faculty of the institution. This latest episode is no exception.

Halloween is only a few days away, as is the school's annual "Mischief Night" party. Normally, the school escapes with a few incidents of minor vandalism and other pranks. This year, however, an ominous sense of doom hangs over the school, much of it centering around a new science teacher, whom many of the students seem to regard as some sort of evil classroom dictator.

At first the incidents seem relatively harmless: somebody decides to summon the fire department during a test. Then all the orange and black paint disappears from the art room, and the mustard packets vanish from the school cafeteria. The stakes rise, however, when chemicals and equipment disappear from the science lab and Amanda discovers that one of her exam keys and her attendance book are both missing. To make matters worse, the science teacher, Juan Reyes, receives what might well be a death threat in the form of a letter referencing an incident about a teacher killed by students.

Amanda's life is already hectic enough as she's trying to balance her professional obligation to the school while spending the rest of her time working as a private investigator with her husband. Not to mention the rather inconvenient presence of her husband's nephew, a 16-year-old high school dropout who has crashed at their place for the foreseeable future. Now she has to investigate her own students - including a popular group of seniors who may be at the crux of the recent shenanigans.

When an explosion in the science lab critically injures Reyes, Amanda must pursue her fear that some of the students were involved. When she receives a warning that there is more to come, she knows that she must identify the perpetrators and stop them before their next prank proves fatal.

Roberts' novels are breezy, entertaining fun. There's not a lot of over-the-top gore or violence; instead, the story is understated and almost elegant in its straightforward puzzles. Amanda's relationships with both her husband and the husband's nephew breathe as if real, and embody a gentle wit and relational experience. While not an exceptional mystery in a plot sense, A Hole in Juan is a well-crafted tale of an amateur sleuth and the schoolyard trouble she's forced to solve on her own.

Article Author: W.E. Wallo

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

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