Recipes for Love and Murder

The title of this book caught my eye on the library shelf.  There is nothing I like better than a book with recipes and a good mystery, so when you put both together....it is like eating a delicious meal with good company.  Nothing is better.  I can safely say that about this book also.  It is sweet like a good dessert with enough spice thrown in like a delicious serving of your favorite meal.

This mystery novel written by Sally Andrew that takes place in South Africa, which for me is not a place I have read much about.  The descriptions of the heat and dry climate are palpable.  Andrew paints a picture of life in the Klein Karoo, a semi desert region of South Africa with extreme heat and cold, with low rainfall and cloudless skies.  Each day the main character and heroine of our story Tannie Marie, (auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) eats her meals on her stoep.  The author, Andrews uses words beautifully to paint a picture in the reader's mind,  "I made some coffee and went and sat on the stoep to watch the day arrive.  It happens all of a sudden in the Karoo.  one minute the light is soft and full of the night's shadows, and then the sun is blasting everything awake.  The Rooiberg changes from red to orange to ochre yellow before you can finish your cup of coffee."  Throughout the book there are descriptions that wow the tastebuds and fill you heart with love.

Tannie Marie is a middle aged-widow who likes to eat and cook.  She has a job at the local newspaper, the Karoo Gazette, writing a advice column that gives relationship advice along with recipes to feed the soul.  She describes herself, "My mother was Afrikaans and my father was English and the languages are mixed up inside me.  I taste in Afrikaans and argue in English, but if I swear I go back to Afrikaans again."  In my mind she is a warm, cuddly, courageous and clever character. She works alongside the editor of the paper, Hattie Christie and Jessica, the young investigative reporter.  The dialog is tight, quick and witty.

When a letter comes to the paper from a woman who writes that her husband is abusive, Tannie Marie sends her some advice and a recipe for slow cooked lamb curry.  When the woman turns up dead, Marie and Jessica start to make inquires and snoop around the crime scene.  They seem to keep getting in the way of the police investigation and that leads to relationships with the Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer and police officer, Reghardt Snyman.  There are many twist and turns as the ladies at the newspaper happen to turn up every time there is new evidence in the murder case.  Intermixed in the murder plot are the lovelorn letters and recipe advice that Tannie Marie continues to dole out in large portions as she learns to let go of her painful past and open up just like she is counseling the writers who seek her assistance in their relationships.

This book is infused with mouthwatering descriptions of both the South African landscape and the foods of the people living in the Karoo.  The story flows even more musically with its mix of English, Afrikaan and South African terminology.  There is a glossary in the back of the book to help with the translations.

This book took me to a new world that I have never traveled in before. I am transported to the Karoo, joining Tannie Marie, Jessie and Hattie both at the newspaper office and after a long day at work sitting on the stoep drinking lemonade and sharing rusks.

Reading some of the reviews of Recipes for Love and Murder, it looks like this is the beginning of a new series.  If so, I will be watching closely for the next one.  Tannie Marie could join my list of favorite detectives.