Sally Andrew

'Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable . . . A triumph' Alexander McCall SmithMeet Tannie Maria: A woman who likes to cook a lot and write a little. Tannie Maria writes recipes for a column in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette. One Sunday morning, as Maria savours the breeze through the kitchen window whilst making apricot jam, she hears the screech and bump that announces the arrival of her good friend and editor Harriet. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver the first ingredient in two new recipes (recipes for love and murder) and a whole basketful of challenges. A delicious blend of intrigue, milk tart and friendship, join Tannie Maria in her first investigation. Consider your appetite whetted for a whole new series of mysteries . . .

A Tannie Maria Mystery

Recipes for Love and Murder

Meet Tannie Maria - recipe writer turned crime fighter - and before she has time to take her Venus Chocolate Cake out of the oven, our glorious heroine finds herself embroiled in another mystery. In this wonderful sequel to Recipes for Love and Murder, Slimkat the bushman finds his life under threat and Tannie Maria is determined to find out who wants to kill him. But her boyfriend is keen to keep Tannie out of danger, and she's pretty sure he's hiding something so Tannie has mysteries of her own solve . . . Blending a perfect whodunnit with lovable characters, Sally Andrew really does have the perfect recipe for a crime series.

The Satanic Mechanic

Tannie Maria used to write a recipe column for the Klein Karoo Gazette. Then Head Office decided they wanted an advice column instead, so now she gives advice. In the form of recipes. Because, as she says, she may not know much about love, but food—that’s her life. Everything has been going well. A tongue-tied mechanic wins his girl with text messages and Welsh rarebit. A frightened teenager gets some much-needed sex ed with her chocolate-coated bananas. But then there is a letter from Martine, whose husband beats her, and Tannie Maria feels a pang of recognition and dread. This may be a problem that cooking can’t solve... Warm, funny, poignant: Sally Andrew’s irresistible heroine brings mystery, romance and amazing cooking together in the most entertaining new series in years. And all Tannie Maria’s mouthwatering recipes are right there in the book!

Tannie Maria writes the Love Advice and Recipe Column for the Klein Karoo Gazette: words of wisdom for the lovelorn, along with a recipe for something delicious that may help. But Maria’s own problems resist her attempts to self-medicate, even with an amazing peanut-butter coffee chocolate cake. Her new relationship with Detective Henk Kannemeyer continues to be haunted by the memory of her abusive husband, and she decides to check out a PTSD counselling group run by a man they call the Satanic Mechanic. But then someone is murdered—poisoned with mustard sauce—before her eyes, and Tannie Maria’s quest for healing takes a more investigative turn. Which means her intimate relationship with Henk is about to get professional. And more importantly, very complicated.

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 . . .

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. Her life as a recipe columnist for her local paper is relatively quiet until The Gazette decides to replace her recipe column with an advice column. At first, Tannie Maria is resistant, but she soon discovers she has a knack—and a passion—for helping her correspondents and including recipes and culinary advice whenever she can! As she makes her way through the questions that pile up, she ends up not only helping others, but coming to terms with her own overeating, body image and loneliness along the way. Then Tannie Maria receives a sequence of letters from a woman trying to figure out how to escape her abusive husband—something Tannie Maria has had experience with in the past. When the woman is murdered, however, Tannie Maria and her colleague become dangerously entwined in the ensuing investigation, despite the best efforts of a handsome detective to keep them safe. Soon, Tannie Maria becomes involved in something much more sinister than perfecting her chocolate cake recipe . . .

A Novel

Recipes For Love And Murder

When Slimkat the Bushman's life is threatened by an unknown adversary, recipe writer-turned-crime fighter Tannie Maria becomes embroiled in a nature-reserve land dispute among Bushmen descendants, diamond miners, and cattle companies.

The satanic mechanic

"Who knew a Marilyn Monroe movie could kill you? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik's Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene. Ja, the old thrift-shop owner had a heart condition, but was there more to his demise? Itʹs rumoured that among Frikʹs junk are valuable treasures, and the grumpy, paranoid old guy frequently altered his will.When a second body turns up, thereʹs a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice - and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Mariaʹs food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk. Maria and Jessie step into deep danger, but all is not doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wifeʹs stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, for better or for worse. Perhaps, once the Klein Karoo crime-busterʹs work is done, she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe"--Back cover.

The Milk Tart Murders

Tannie Maria might be the Karoo’s favourite agony aunt, but when it comes to matters of her own heart, she doesn’t have all the answers. Why is she having trouble telling her beau – the dashing Detective Henk Kannemeyer with the chestnut moustache – that she loves him? There are other, more pressing problems too. A tall, dark stranger zooms in on her Ducati motorbike: she is Zabanguni Kani, a journalist renowned for her political exposés, who, after receiving threats, moves in with Tannie Maria for safety. And who could tell that a trip to the country’s northern parts was on the cards? The journey plunges Maria and her friends into pools of danger, amid water maidens, murders, and Harley Davidsons. Ladismith’s famous crime fighter is back – with a tin of buttermilk rusks in hand – to restore peace from the Klein Karoo to the great Limpopo River.

Sally Andrew

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