Publishers Weekly
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In this thrilling and ultra charming mystery, Afrikaner food columnist Tannie Maria and her beau, Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer, attend a food festival celebrating a courtroom decision that forced corporations to return the Bushman tribe's ancestral lands. When popular tribe leader Slimkat Kabbo is fatally poisoned, Henk, assigned to protect the man, vows to find the killer and Tannie Maria decides to assist him. She, meanwhile, is struggling with recurring nightmares triggered by her late husband's violent death and their extremely abusive marriage. She turns to an informal PTSD therapy group led by the book's charismatic title figure. His methods seem to be working-and then a group member is murdered, possibly by Slimkat's assassin. Just as the novel's authenticity depends on author Andrew's firsthand knowledge of South Africa, its people, culture and food, the audio is enriched by the performance of Prinsloo, a South African actor best known for her role in the film The Gods Must Be Crazy. Her thespian experience allows her to do justice by the book's characters, convincingly conveying Tannie Maria's reaction to her painful memories and her infatuation with edibles. Her cadences, especially during Andrew's loving descriptions of veldt flora, fauna and, yes, food, flow like music. An Ecco hardcover. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Tannie Maria, the much-loved advice and recipes columnist at the Klein Karoo Gazette, has PTSD. And when she and her boyfriend Det. Henk Kannemeyer try to take their relationship to a new level, true love is interrupted by flashbacks. Then her friend Slimkat is poisoned right in front of her. It is all too much, so she finds herself a haven, a therapy group run by a man known as the -Satanic Mechanic. Alas, all too soon, violence and murder invade the group. Fortunately, Maria's personal defenses, a warm appreciation of the natural world, the support of her good friends, and, of course, her own excellent cooking help her to triumph over evil. Sarah Prinsloo's reading is outstanding, particularly her ability to distinguish among and enunciate the many different accents, making it possible for English-only listeners to figure out the meaning of Afrikaans words from context. Listeners are in for a very pleasant surprise. VERDICT Recommended for fans of well-written mysteries.-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.