Amanda Pepper certainly wasn't intending to spend all of
her newlywed hours with teenagers; she sees them all day as
a high school teacher. However, her husband's family has a
strong belief in moving members around familial units to
help them make better life choices (and to keep immediate
family members from each others' throats when times get
tense).
Amanda and C. K. Mackenzie's new charge, a 16-year-old
dropout named Pip, thinks living with his moonlighting
detective uncle and aunt should be the coolest thing ever --
never mind that his uncle is working on his PhD and his
aunt is an English teacher when not "staked-out" in the
thrilling activity of attempting to catch insurance fraud
in the act.
Amanda has felt that her high school seniors have been
acting strangely recently, but everyone assures her that
they're being normal teenagers. However, when foolish
pranks turn dangerous and every overheard conversation
seems to hold infinite meaning, she's sure something is
going on.
Seemingly disguised as a cozy mystery (perhaps because of
the protagonist's career or the mention of a cat), this
book packs a wallop, particularly for those familiar with
the faculty politics and seething primal tension that can
pervade a high school filled with the drama of frustrated
workers and hormonal teenagers. A HOLE IN JUAN is fast-
paced, interesting and richly detailed. Readers who know
how quickly rumors spread in the educational system will
nod knowingly at the details within the school, and mystery
fans will enjoy the weaving of the story. This is an
excellent book and a treat to read.
No matter the season, the Philadelphia private school where
Amanda Pepper teaches English is never a center of
tranquility. But with Halloween and the annual Mischief
Night party only days away, the hope is that nothing more
than old-fashioned vandalism and pranks will take place.
No such luck. Trouble erupts long before the witching hour,
as the school is plagued by a series of mishaps ranging
from the trivial to the potentially deadly–and most of
which seem to center on a group of popular seniors.
A fire alarm rings during a test; all the orange and black
paint is stolen from the art room; the mustard packets are
taken from the cafeteria. Perhaps more serious: chemicals
and equipment disappear from the science lab, as does one
of Amanda’s exams and her attendance book. And the dapper
new science instructor, Juan Reyes, receives a threatening
message recalling that a teacher was once flayed to death
by his students.
As Amanda juggles teaching, moonlighting as a private
investigator with her husband, C. K. Mackenzie, and coping
with C.K.’s visiting sixteen-year-old high school-dropout
nephew, she tries to find out what, or who, is behind the
ominous events.
Before she can unmask the tricksters, the turmoil in the
school increases when students rise up against the
administration’s censuring (and censoring) of a campus
poet. Then unrest escalates into a lethally explosive
menace, and Amanda receives a warning that there is more–
and far worse–to come.
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