Avid Series Reader's Reviews > All's Well That Ends

All's Well That Ends by Gillian Roberts is the 14th and final book of the Amanda Pepper mystery series set in contemporary Philadelphia. The book has the usual themes/parallel subplots: a friend wants Amanda and Mackenzie to investigate someone's death, which the police wrote off as suicide; Amanda despairs because her high school students don't care about education, and peer pressure drives them to criminal acts. This time the friend is Sasha, the crime is her mother's death. I don't remember how Sasha and Amanda met, but friendship is sufficient to compel Amanda to visit numerous people for boring interviews that don't solve the crime, or even suggest there was one. After an obvious murder is committed at the same house, it's clear the crimes are connected. Meanwhile at the high school, the current worry of the administration is over teenage gambling. Amanda has rare moments of joy when a student will think or appreciate literature, but mostly Amanda worries about teenagers' personality changes, and peer pressure between a rich popular student and one who seems to be victimized. As the story drags, Mackenzie's attention is focused on his extended family and their post-Katrina struggles in Louisiana. A suspenseful scene leads to a satisfying wrap-up of all subplots and the series, for die-hard Amanda Pepper fans.