Praise for the Tannie Maria series: ‘Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable’ – Alexander McCall Smith ‘Utterly delicious’ – Deon Meyer ‘Irresistible … a work of enormous charm’ – Wall Street Journal ‘Tender and funny’ – Kirkus reviews
Tannie Maria is wrestling with a fear of the dark and Henrietta has PTSD. But this doesn’t stop the intrepid agony aunt – and her hen – from going undercover with Maria’s fiancé, Detective Henk Kannemeyer, to the Karoo Wilderness Reserve. Their mission: save the vetplantjies! At the luxury game lodge, they spy on guests and support the Anti-Poaching Unit in a battle against dangerous gangsters. Jessie attends the Succulent Symposium, which is tackling the poaching problem internationally. Then, there is a murder ... Our favourite Ladismith sleuths engage with some colourful suspects, including a barefoot artist, a botanist cowboy, a singing gardener, and a sangoma. Between solving murders, writing agony-aunt letters, eating spectacular food, and having spiritual epiphanies, Maria and Henk get fashion tips from a couturier and his Baroness. But fashion is forgotten when their own lives are at stake.
Format: Paperback / softback
CONTRIBUTORS: Sally Andrew
EAN: 9781415211281
COUNTRY: South Africa
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PUBLISHED BY: Penguin Random House South Africa
DATE PUBLISHED: 2026-05-01
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GENRE: FICTION / General, FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
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Book Themes:
Fiction and Related items, Crime and mystery fiction
Sally Andrew is the best-selling author of the award-winning Tannie Maria mystery novels. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages and turned into an international TV series broadcast in over 100 countries. She lives with her artist partner in a mud-brick house on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo. She has a master’s in Adult Education from the University of Cape Town and was a social and environmental activist. She now writes, does Biofield Tuning (sound healing), and is training to be a doowop girl. Her Tannie Maria novels include Recipes for Love and Murder, Tannie Maria and the Satanic Mechanic, Death on the Limpopo, and The Milk Tart Murders. Recipes to Live For (A Tannie Maria cookbook) has won international Gourmand awards. The Gourmands have 222 participating countries and Sally’s cookbook was honoured with Best in the World in 2025 (in its category of Acknowledgments) as well as Best of the Best – when it was chosen as one of the favourite cookbooks over the last 30 years.
