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Original Essays | December 12, 2009

Alexander McCall Smith: IMG The Courage of Others

0 comments By Alexander McCall Smith

I have recently written a novel about life in England during the Second World War. I felt some concern before I tackled this theme — the War... Continue »
  1. $16.76 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    La's Orchestra Saves the World

    Alexander McCall Smith
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Other titles in the Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes series:

  1. Grape Expectations
  2. Hell Hath No Curry
  3. Just Plain Pickled to Death
  4. The Crepes of Wrath

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes (Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes)

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes (Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Synopsis:

Another delicious mystery from the author of Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth. An Amish innkeeper would like nothing more than to forget the terrible murders that occured at her guesthouse. Yet it's impossible, as a film crew is bent on using the actual site of the crimes for a movie. But not whe's in a real stew, as the assistant director turns up dead--and she's the prime suspect!
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Linda Shelnutt, April 21, 2006 (view all comments by Linda Shelnutt)
Magda?s Spyglass Focuses Inward With Wide-Eyed, Grinning Honesty, as well as Outward With All In Fun Observations.

Magdelana?s snap, cracke & pop descriptions of people in her world drives a quick, delightful read, so much so that it?s easy to miss some of the constant and intriguing, worthy cultural messages.

What I enjoyed most in the opening chapters of this 2nd novel in the PenDutch series was the point at which Magdalena first turned her snappy spyglass onto her foibles, focusing a schooldays shadow as brightly as the dim wittedness she?d been observing outside herself. After establishing her humorous disgust of the reportedly lacking mental capacities of Susannah?s boyfriend and Hernia?s chief of police, Melvin Stoltzfus, Magdalena noted her collection of ?DUH? brain cells by confessing to the reader that it was Melvin?s paper she chose to copy that one-and-only time she ever cheated on an exam.

I enjoyed the fact that Bugsy, in the first scene, wasn?t at all put off, insulted, or deterred by Mags?s clear and constant rips on his person, character, and apparent con-artist intentions. Be sure to spot the whitehead on his nose, which changes sides from day to day, and never escapes Mags?s focus.

The humor in this series is fast, deep, and complex. I love it when a fictional female (or male, for that matter) actually spouts in public a few choice descriptions which I?d love to open mouth to but wouldn?t dare, for fear of either being stomped out of existence, or hurting someone I would never want to hurt.

Magda periodically confesses that she?s living dangerously when she out pops with something most of us couldn?t get out of the voice-box outside the safety of paper and print.

Usually, my take on this type of daring (fictional) humorous release is, that?s what novels are for?

Magda?s scenes with doc bring out her sensitive side, in those precious moments when she relates to him with compassion, without comic cover (which can become a high-grade, sophisticated emotional firewall).

Magda?s moxie hides the hugely sensitive, warm heart of a sometimes frightened woman, as evidenced by many subtle scenes, but especially in the first serious exchange and its culmination, between Magda and Arthur when her acting Voice finally lets go with a boom, and surges Arthur to utter his first speaking part in the plot, cancelling his prior grunting/muttering mode.

Each time Magda turns her spyglass inward, to ferret foibles or vulnerability; in ?after-the-purge? scenes, she refreshes the reader with slips of warmth and generosities of spirit extended to some of her story mates. What her sarcastic edge might secret is that she loves her people and they love her, and the snipping wit is taken as moxie, charisma, a ?presence? worthy of a great actress.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780451182975
Subtitle:
A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes
Author:
Myers, Tamar
Publisher:
Signet
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Series
Subject:
Detective and mystery stories
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths
Subject:
Women detectives
Subject:
Pennsylvania
Subject:
Adult
Subject:
Hotelkeepers
Subject:
Mennonites
Subject:
Pennsylvania dutch
Subject:
Women detectives -- Pennsylvania -- Fiction.
Subject:
Yoder, magdalena (fictitious character)
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
PennDutch Inn Mystery
Series Volume:
104-427
Publication Date:
19960701
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
6.86x4.16x.76 in. .30 lbs.
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