Meat Thy Maker

November 1, 2019
Cantankerous, self-deprecating Mennonite Magdalena Yoder starts a new trend when she opens Hernia, Pennsylvania's newest restaurant?Asian Sensations, Amish-Chinese fusion. When the editor of a conservative homemaker's magazine, A Woman's Place, wants to do an article on the restaurant, Magdalena foolishly agrees, lured by the free publicity. Then, after one of the magazine's staff members is murdered at Magdalena's bed-and-breakfast, she is arrested for the crime. Luckily, Magdalena is quickly released on bail, so she is able to investigate the murder and identify the killer before someone close to her is injured. Complicating matters are Magdalena's rebellious teenage daughter and her interfering mother-in-law, Mother Malaise, who runs a cult located just across the street from the inn. Then Mother Malaise drives a wedge between Magdalena and her physician husband, Gabe (aka the Babester). This offbeat cozy, filled with laugh-out-loud humor, is distinguished by its numerous quirky characters (led by the strong-willed Magdalena), the beautifully described Pennsylvania Dutch setting and culture, and the unlikely but richly evoked Mennonite-Jewish relationship between Magdalena and Gabe.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2023
Septuagenarian Magdalena Yoder Rosen, mayor of Hernia, Pennsylvania, and owner of the PennDutch Inn, is hosting three candidates at the inn who hope to partner with a local Amish business, Schmucker Brothers Sausages; the three brothers make sausages so special they fly off the local shelves. Unfortunately, one of the candidates is found dead at the inn--not the first time a guest has been murdered there. Magdalena, who has her PI license and has assisted the police in the past, works with local police chief Toy Graham to find the culprit. After Magdalena puts the pieces together, she goes alone to confront the killer, with predictably bad results, at least in the short term. Magdalena is a hoot, speaking directly to the reader in a voice laden with acerbic, often self-deprecating, humor. The narrative is framed by details of Mennonite and Amish life and by Magdalena's efforts to be a good Christian, which lead to multiple lapses, including her propensity for reading steamy romances, always justified in humorous asides.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2022
Magdalena Portulacca Yoder Rosen, a Conservative Mennonite woman married to a Jewish man, creates more headlines suitable for the tabloids. Magdalena's husband, retired doctor Gabriel Rosen, helps her run the world-famous PennDutch Inn, where guests pay extra for the pleasures of mucking out stalls and weeding gardens while eating stodgy but tasty food. Just one generation removed from the Amish Church, which her grandparents left when her grandfather decided to buy a car, the clever and sarcastic Magdalena is the murder magnet of Hernia, Pennsylvania. As mayor and town benefactor as well as innkeeper, Magdalena often works with police chief Toy Graham, whose good looks attract plenty of women even though he's gay. Several of Magdalena's most recent guests are in town to try to make a deal to sell the renowned sausages made by the Schmucker brothers, members of a local Amish family. Grocery store CEOs Christine Landis and Kathleen Dooley are in the hunt along with Terence Tazewell, the owner of the Guzzle 'n Gorge restaurants, which encourage excessive eating and drinking. Only the very Southern gentleman Ducky Limehouse makes it clear that he's not a fan of sausages. Then Magdalena's best friend, Agnes Miller, eats one of the Schmuckers' signature products and promptly moons her nosey next-door neighbor. Her strange behavior eventually leads Magdalena to the discovery that the Schmuckers' magic ingredient is marijuana. Shortly after Magdalena takes her guests on a tour of the Schmucker facilities, from a smelly hog farm to a slaughterhouse processing plant, Terry Tazewell is found back in the inn with his throat cut, and Magdalena joins Toy in sleuthing. She'll need all her talents to extricate herself from a situation stickier than her favorite cinnamon buns. Another zany but pointed look at the Amish and Mennonite lifestyle grafted onto a modest mystery.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.