PUDDIN' ON THE BLITZ

More murder among the Amish and Mennonites, who live in what must be among the most homicide-prone communities in America.

Magdalena Yoder-Rosen, a Conservative Mennonite woman with a poor body image, a weird sense of humor, and a knack for solving murders (Tea With Jam and Dread, 2016, etc.), has been arrested for the murder of Sarah Conway, one of her guests at the PennDutch Inn, where she charges city slickers big bucks to muck out stalls, clean bathrooms, and eat yummy but heart-clogging Amish cuisine. Sarah was the assistant to Gordon Gaiters, editor of the wildly popular Woman’s Place magazine, and Mags, always hoping to garner favorable publicity for the inn, had agreed to bar all other guests during their visit—so there are very few other suspects when Sarah winds up dead. Mags’ husband, Gabe, aka the Babester, is a retired heart surgeon who struggles to keep the peace between his wife and his mother, a floridly stereotyped Jewish mama who’s launched a convent for depressed women. Mags, who uses her wealth to help many in the little southwest Pennsylvania town of Hernia, had already agreed to help Hortense Hemphopple—the neighbor whose mother, Wanda, is in prison for trying to kill Mags and her daughter Alison—reopen The Sausage Barn restaurant so that Hortense can pay her college tuition bill. Mags’ surprisingly successful fusion of Chinese and Amish cooking is complemented by the skills of Barbara Hostetler, whose desserts are to die for. And Sarah very possibly did die from eating one of the desserts brought from the restaurant to the inn. Luckily, Mags is a friend or relative to just about everyone in Hernia, and the judge, an old school pal, lets her out with a $1 bail, giving her plenty of time to track down the real killer with a little help from her friends and a goat.

As usual, the mystery plays second fiddle in an over-the-top tale laced with sarcasm and malapropisms.