Recipes for Love and Murder
A Tannie Maria Mystery
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4.2 • 32 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Now an Acorn Original TV Series Starring Maria Doyle Kennedy, Kylie Fisher, and Tony Kgoroge
A bright new talent makes her fiction debut with this first entry in a delicious crime set in rural South Africa—a flavorful blend of The #1 Ladies Detective Agency and Goldie Schulz series, full of humor, romance, and recipes and featuring a charming cast of characters.
Tannie Maria (Tannie meaning Auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) is a middle-aged widow who likes to cook—and eat. She shares her culinary love as a recipe columnist for the local paper—until The Gazette decides its readers are hungrier for advice on matters of the heart rather than ideas for lunch and dinner.
Tannie Maria doesn’t like the change, but soon discovers she has a knack—and a passion—for helping people. Of course she shares her recipes and culinary advice whenever she can! Assisting other people with their problems, Tannie Maria is eventually forced to face her own issues, especially when the troubles of those she helps touch on the pain of her past, like a woman desperate to escape her abusive husband.
When the woman is murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously entwined in the investigation, despite the best efforts of one striking detective determined to keep her safe. Suddenly, this practical, down-to-earth woman is involved in something much more sinister than perfecting her chocolate cake recipe . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Even cozy fans who are foodies may be disappointed by Andrew's derivative first novel, the launch of a series set in South Africa. Tannie Maria, who has survived an abusive husband, channels her passion for food into a regular column for her local paper, combining recipes with romantic advice. Soon after an anonymous correspondent writes of her own domestic abuse, the woman, Martine van Schalkwyk, a supermarket bookkeeper, is found dead near a pond on the farm where she lives with her husband, Dirk. Feeling guilty, Maria decides to play amateur detective, and in the process she falls for the hunky and available officer in charge of the case, Det. Lt. Henk Kannemeyer. Maria, who frequently talks to her food, lacks the compassionate insight of Mma Ramotswe of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency fame, and her observations about the world are often less than profound ("maybe life is like a river that can't be stopped, always winding toward or away from death and love").
Customer Reviews
Loved Tannie Maria
After watching Recipes for Love and Murder on Acorn, I had to try to find and read the book. I loved it!!! This was on the heels of listening to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime on a long car road trip. Felt like I have been immersed in South African stories, culture, and delicious food with Tannie Maria’s recipes. Loved learning so many new words and interesting things about South Africa. So well written and so engaging. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it and worrying about the characters.
Derivative
Diane Mott Davidson ought to sue her. It is warmed over Goldy the caterer with a few details changed and an appliqué of South African lingo. To those not familiar with the series she copied, it is a meh book.