I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia

Amanda Pepper, the resourceful English teacher at Philly Prep, is sorting books for a school fund-raiser when she discovers a secondhand volume from an unknown donor --a book for and about battered women. As Amanda peruses the book, she realizes that it contains a special and frightening message from its original owner. Passages describing violent physical and emotional abuse are underlined, with additional notes scribbled in the margins corroborating the details: "I know he will kill me. He says so. I believe him. He will kill me."

As far as Amanda is concerned, this cry for help cannot be ignored. Her search for the desperate victim leads from the corridors of Philly Prep to the cobblestone streets of Society Hill, and the smooth avenues of the affluent Main Line. Along the way Amanda learns a startling lesson about deliberate brutality--and its unpredictable and cold-blooded consequences....