Death by Tart Attack

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.)

March 1, 2022
A conservative Mennonite woman who's a magnet for murder must contend with a homicide that cuts close to the bone. Magdalena Portulacca Yoder Miller Rosen is a wealthy woman; mayor of Hernia, Pennsylvania; mother of brilliant 10-year-old Jacob; adoptive mother of 22-year-old Alison; and wife of Dr. Gabriel Rosen, whose Jewish faith makes him an unlikely consort. Awoken in the middle of the night by loud trucks, Magdalena and Gabe rush out to discover a convoy heading for Hernia. To Magdalena's horror, it's headed by Aaron Miller, Alison's birth father, the man who once married her even though he was already married, who's obviously broken the agreement he made when she gave him $50,000 to leave and never return. Aaron wants to build Armageddonland, an apocalyptic theme park, and it's clear he'll succeed only over Magdalena's dead body. Although she tries to rally the local Amish and Mennonites to oppose the plan and refuse to sell Aaron any land, she's disturbed to discover that half of the locals think the park would be a perfectly good thing for the area. Back at her highly successful inn, she must deal with two atheist friends of Gabe's and with Alison's realization that she has a brother who, unlike Alison, was not left behind when Aaron decamped. When Aaron dies at a meeting over the theme park while stuffing his face with homemade tarts, Magdalena barely escapes arrest, and, ever curious, not to say meddlesome, she embarks on her own investigation. Of all Magdalena's rollicking adventures, this one contains the best mystery.

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May 15, 2022
Magdalena Yoder's former husband, Aaron Miller, arrives in the quiet Amish town of Hernia, Pennsylvania, with a teen son she didn't know he had and plans to build a religion-themed amusement park. She has despised Aaron since learning that he married her while he was married to someone else. She is ready to fight the park, though some townspeople have expressed interest in the jobs it could create. When Aaron dies after eating a poisoned tart at a church event, and after it's learned that Magdalena is still in his will, she becomes a suspect. Determined to clear herself, Magdalena, with the help of her friends and extended family, learns more about Aaron's checkered past. Magdalena's humorous commentary and the details of Amish life have long driven this series, and they continue to provide the appeal here. This twenty-third episode finds the protagonist's family growing in surprising ways as she works to learn what happened to Aaron.

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