Mean and Shellfish

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.)

April 30, 2021
Magdalena Yoder, mayor of Hernia, Pennsylvania, is ready for the fourth annual Billy Goat Gruff Festival. She is less excited about the fact that her grouchy mother-in-law is going to be named citizen of the year and wants to be designated as queen of the festival. She is also unhappy when her husband Gabe's long-estranged cousin, Miriam, arrives from Australia, full of demands and rancor. Then Magdalena learns that some important guests due to arrive at her inn were murdered and discovered in a dumpster in town. When the festival begins, further vandalism makes it clear that someone wants to stop the event. Magdalena and her friends and family do their best to sort out who is behind the mayhem, and it becomes clear that the target is Magdalena herself. Plenty of humor and twists fill Myers' latest Pennsylvania-Dutch mystery. An entertaining addition to the series, though readers may want to read the previous entries for background on the various connections among characters.

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