Delicious food is key to the much-loved Tannie Maria series, and the sweet star of Sally Andrew’s fourth novel is milk tart – naartjie-infused nogal! Released to coincide with National Milk Tart Day on 27 February, The Milk Tart Murders is a mystery set in the Klein Karoo and features recipes from the story at the end.

For each of her books, Sally Andrew devotes time to honing the recipes, so that they work out as perfectly as her murder mysteries do (in the end) when readers try them at home. A Tannie Maria gastronomic weekend took place in Franschhoek in 2021: chefs, foodies, and fans of the series taste-tested variants of recipes from the new novel. Enjoy spekboom ice cream, marmalade rusks, and Karoo zoo biscuits from this latest mystery, as well as hearty chicken soup and frikadelle with tamatiesmoor and kapokaartappels.

As for the plot, could a Marilyn Monroe movie kill someone? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik’s Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene. Maria and reporter Jessie again step into deep danger as they try to figure out what, or who, killed irascible old Frik, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wife’s stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, and once the Klein Karoo crime-buster’s work is done, perhaps she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe.

The first book in the Tannie Maria series, Recipes for Love and Murder, has been adapted for television. Watch it Sundays at 20:00 on M-Net channel 101 or catch up with DStv on your connected device.

Watch an interview with her below:

Feature image: Sally Andrew on the set of Recipes for Love and Murder.