The Satanic Mechanic by Sally Andrew

First Line: Have you ever wanted something really badly?

Although Tannie Maria is still busy with her recipe and advice column for the local paper, she can't help being concerned when Slimkat the bushman's life is threatened. She takes these threats seriously and is determined to find out who wants to kill him. Problem is, the man in her life wants to keep her safe and could very well be keeping secret some of the answers she needs to find.

It would be nice if those things were the only items on Tannie Maria's to-do list, but... she has personal mysteries that need to be solved, too.

Reading Sally Andrew's first Tannie Maria mystery, Recipes for Love and Murder, last May was one of the best things I've done all year. Once introduced to this wonderful South African landscape, its culture, and the characters, I snapped up the second book as soon as it was available. I didn't want to read The Satanic Mechanic too soon, I really didn't... but I simply could not deny myself.

The country of South Africa is a character in this book. Andrew's descriptions of the landscape and wildlife are absolutely marvelous and immediately immersed me in the story. Tannie Maria is the type of character who notices changes in the weather and countryside, and how animals are behaving-- and these observations, to varying degrees, usually have some sort of impact on the narrative.

To Tannie Maria, cooking equals love. She is falling in love with Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer and this means that her cooking skills are going into overdrive. However, all is not sunshine and flowers in this budding relationship. Maria has demons from her past that must be laid to rest, and to do this she joins an open-air Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder group. Attending the meetings introduces her to the threatened Slimkat.

What subsequently happens to Slimkat is almost incidental until things start happening in the group sessions. In this second book in Sally Andrew's series, the mystery is secondary to her characters, all that delicious food, and the vibrant South African surroundings, but those three things are so rich and satisfying I really didn't mind. 

If you love series like Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police or Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri-- series that have wonderful characters, vivid settings, and sumptuous cultures that you can sink into with a sigh-- I urge you to read Sally Andrew's Tannie Maria mysteries (in order). They're wonderful!
  

The Satanic Mechanic by Sally Andrew

eISBN:9781782116516
Canongate Books © 2016
eBook, 312 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Tannie Maria mystery
Rating: A-
Source: Purchased from Amazon  


 

Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew

First Line: Isn't life funny? You know, how one thing leads to another in a way you just don't expect.

Tannie Maria loves to cook, and she loves to eat. She also loves sharing her experiences with food in her recipe column for the local newspaper in her rural South African town. But that all changes when the newspaper owners decide that their readership is hungrier for advice on love than it is for meal tips. Tannie Maria doesn't like the change, but she soon discovers that she has a knack for helping people with their problems... and adding a recipe or two to make them feel better. 

One of the people Tannie Maria reaches out to is a woman with an abusive husband. When that woman is found murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously tangled up in the investigation-- even though one police detective in particular is doing everything he can to keep her safe.

I have a feeling that there are people who are going to read Recipes for Love and Murder and think it's nothing but an imitation of Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe series set in Botswana. Now having read books from both series, I can safely say that-- in my opinion-- it's similar, but not an imitation, and that I prefer Sally Andrews' book. I could only read three or four books into Smith's series because Mma Ramotswe was too all-knowing and the books were just a bit too sweet and charming for my taste. 

Sally Andrews' book not only has recipes and an Afrikaans/South African glossary, it gave me a very real feel for rural South Africa, its landscape, its weather, and its wildlife. Tannie Maria is a woman who notices all these things, and when she's not outside, she's cooking, or at the newspaper office working on her column and being a good friend to her co-workers Hattie and Jessie. 

Tannie Maria is a wonderful character with some rough edges and a bit of history that she has to deal with through the course of the book. There are some tension-filled, downright scary scenes, and I found it tough to identify the killer. In short-- I loved this book and am most definitely looking forward to reading more in the series, but this is where I have to file a complaint-- and a word of advice.

The advice first. I do recommend that you read this book, but when you do, please make sure that you read a physical copy of the book, not a digital copy. Andrews uses many Afrikaans and South African words throughout the book, and although I could usually determine a word's meaning from its context, I'm one of these people who enjoy learning bits and pieces of other languages, so there were times that I wanted to make sure that I had deduced the correct meaning. It was absolutely painful to flip back and forth from story to glossary  on my Kindle. It would've been ideal if each of those words had been a hyperlink that would take me directly to its definition in the glossary, but I imagine that the price of the book would have doubled (at least). It's a shame, but I have learned my lesson. Rant over. (And for the curious, my tribulations with the glossary had no effect on my rating of the book. This isn't Sally Andrew's fault.)

Recipes for Love and Murder is a wonderful mystery that takes you right to the heart of rural South Africa and its people. I highly recommend it!

Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew

eISBN: 9780062397683

Ecco © 2015

eBook, 437 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Tannie Maria mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.