Recipes for Love and Murder: A Tannie Maria Mystery

“This is set in South Africa, in the Klein Karoo, which is a rural area in the semi-arid part of the country. It’s just delightful. It’s an intriguing murder investigation with wonderful small-town characters. The heroine, Tannie Maria, is a superb cook. She loves to prepare and create recipes. She writes a recipe column for the local newspaper, the Klein Karoo Gazette, and then she gets pushed into writing a lonely hearts column as well. The two are combined: she solves the lonely hearts problems with recipes which she suggests that the romantic parties should try on each other to improve their relationship. It’s very enjoyable. I suppose you would call it cosy, though the murders can be quite dark. In the times that Maria is investigating the murders, she runs afoul of the police by interfering with what they’re trying to do, but she develops a romantic relationship with one of them. The Tannie Maria series has been very successful worldwide, and there’s a TV series of the book as well. We chose the first book in the series, Recipes for Love and Murder, because it’s the right place to start, in terms of introducing the characters.” Read more...

Best Southern African Crime Fiction

Michael Stanley, Thriller and Crime Writer