Sally Andrew’s mouth-watering cookbook, RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR, has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2024 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in two categories – the Acknowledgements Award and Local Regions Award.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. Every year, they honour the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food-focused television. This year there are participants from 221 countries and regions, with 1250 nominations. The winners will be announced in an awards ceremony in June 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The other titles that made the Acknowledgements Award shortlist are: DOOR73 by Eric Ivanidis and Marcelo Ballardin (Belgium); QUININE REMAINS by Townsend Middleton (India); LOS FERMENTOS DEL BOSQUE by Andrea Martin (Spain); NOODLES, RICE & EVERYTHING SPICE by Christina de Witte and Mallika Kruppinen (Thailand). The other titles nominated for the Local Regions Award are: DEL GARUM AL LIMONCELLO by Enzio Falcone (Italy); COMERES RAJANOS, COCINAS RAYANAS edited by Confraria Gastronómica do Alentejo (Portugal); LAGOM SVENSK by Louise Bondebjer (Sweden); EAT LOCAL: BUENGKAN by Suthipong Suriya (Thailand) and REGIONAL COOKING OF ENGLAND by Carol Wilson (UK).

RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR features recipes from Sally Andrew’s beloved Tannie Maria murder mystery series, as well as some tantalising new additions, all seasoned with beautiful photographs of the food and the South African landscape. Spiced with enjoyable sayings from the four bestselling novels, as well as letters written to ‘Tannie Maria’s Love Advice and Recipe Column’, RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR is as warm and witty as Tannie Maria herself, guaranteed to delight fans and newcomers to the series.

Many of the dishes are slow foods and traditional South African recipes, but there are also quick meals and new inventions, from nachos to spekboom ice cream. Whether you are craving a Karoo lamb pie or sweet melktert or a syrupy koeksister, you’ll find something to discover and savour among Tannie Maria’s culinary delights.

The Tannie Maria murder mystery series was recently adapted into an acclaimed television series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER. Season Two will be released in 2025. Amongst other accolades, it was shortlisted in the Comedy Drama and Sitcom category at the Rose d’Or Awards and is now available to watch on terrestrial television in the UK.

Sally is currently working on the next novel in the Tannie Maria series.

About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew divides her time between Muizenberg on the Cape Town coast and a nature reserve near Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, where she lives with her artist partner and various wildlife (including a giant eland and a secretive leopard). Sally has published a number of non-fiction books on adult and environmental education.

Her first novel, RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER: A Tannie Maria Mystery was a Kirkus Best Book of 2015, A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book 2015, The Bookseller Fiction editor’s Choice 2015 and A Good Housekeeping Book of the Month. She is now writing the fifth book in the bestselling series.

Praise for Sally Andrew’s Tannie Maria mystery series

‘If you want a vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable read about detection (and cooking) in an intriguing part of southern Africa, then this is the book for you. A triumph.’ – Alexander McCall Smith

‘Utterly delicious, to the very last morsel.’ – Deon Meyer

‘Chock full of good food and interesting characters.’ – Kerry Greenwood, author of the PHRYNE FISHER and CORINNA CHAPMAN series

‘Murder mysteries, good food, and South African anecdotes make the perfect recipe for a murder mystery series. These books follow Tannie Maria, a recipe writer turned true crime fighter, as she solves mysteries. With an average of 4/5 stars on Goodreads, you can bet that these funny and charming books are well worth adding to your TBR.’ – Jade McGee, Woman & Home

Visit Sally’s website.

Follow Sally on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Sally Andrew, creator of the inimitable Tannie Maria, will publish her first cookbook with Penguin Random House South Africa (PRHSA) in May 2024. RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR features recipes from Sally Andrew’s first four murder mystery novels, as well as some tantalising new additions.

RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR is not only a celebration of Tannie Maria's delectable recipes but of her philosophy, of South Africa’s Karoo region and of life itself, Andrew explains. ‘I am so excited about RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR. It is the most beautiful book I have ever seen. The food styling, the design and the photographs are spectacular.’

The cookbook is a collection of the recipes Tannie Maria (the unforgettable agony aunt with a knack for righting wrongs with a recipe) has shared with readers in her column in the Klein Karoo Gazette. In the four novels – RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, TANNIE MARIA AND THE SATANIC MECHANIC, DEATH ON THE LIMPOPO and THE MILK TART MURDERS – Tannie Maria has won hearts and whetted appetites with mouth-watering creations, including the famous Venus Cake, Muesli Buttermilk Rusks and even Spekboom Ice Cream.

PRHSA’s Lifestyle Publisher, Beverley Dodd, says: ‘Spiced with enjoyable sayings from the four novels and seasoned with photographs of the food and the beautiful Karoo, RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR is as warm and witty as Tannie Maria herself, guaranteed to delight fans and newcomers to the series.’

The book showcases more than 80 recipes, including vegetarian and vegan options. Many of the dishes are slow foods and traditional South African recipes, but there are also quick meals and new inventions. Whether you are craving a Karoo lamb pie or a vetkoek with mince, or are lus for a melktert or koeksister, you will find it among Tannie Maria’s gastronomic delights. As Sally sums it up so succinctly: ‘Enjoy cooking. Enjoy eating. Enjoy life. Why not?’

The Tannie Maria book series titles are all bestsellers in South Africa – regularly in the Top 5, with THE MILK TART MURDERS shooting straight to the top of the combined fiction and non-fiction charts on publication in March 2022. It also won the 2023 Nielsen SA Book Award for Fiction.

The first in the series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, was recently adapted for television to great acclaim. Acorn TV hold distribution rights to the series for the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, while Multichoice holds rights for Africa. Following the pick-up by Japan’s Mystery Channel, the first season has now sold in 94 countries. A second series was recently announced, and is due to start filming in April 2024.

Sally is currently working on the next instalment in the Tannie Maria series, with more details to be announced soon.

About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew is the best-selling author of the Tannie Maria Mysteries series. She lives in a mud-brick house on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo with her artist partner, a giant eland, and a secretive leopard. She also spends time in the wilderness of southern Africa and the seaside suburb of Muizenberg. She has a Master’s in Adult Education from the University of Cape Town. Before settling down to write full time, she was a social and environmental activist.

Her first novel, RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER: A Tannie Maria Mystery was a Kirkus Best Book of 2015, A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book 2015, The Bookseller Fiction editor’s Choice 2015 and A Good Housekeeping Book of the Month.

Her work has been translated into thirteen languages.

Praise for the Tannie Maria series

‘Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable… A triumph.’ – Alexander McCall Smith

‘Take a pinch of Alexander McCall Smith, a dash of Diane Mott Davidson, and add a smidge of the wild veld and you’ll get a taste for this lekker story (that’s “delicious” in Afrikaans). While the tone is heartfelt, Andrew doesn’t shy away from the realities of spousal abuse or the shadow of South Africa’s tumultuous history. With a fascinating setting, engaging characters, and a full complement of drool-worthy recipes, this is sure to leave readers craving more.’ – Library Journal, starred review

‘An intriguing mystery in an exotic locale, a work of enormous charm.’ – Wall Street Journal

‘A delightful debut, tender and funny. The mystery takes on the worldwide problem of abused women while revealing both the beauties and problems of South Africa. And the recipes will make you want to drop everything and start cooking.’ – Kirkus, starred review

‘Utterly delicious, to the very last morsel.’ – Deon Meyer

‘Chock full of good food and interesting characters.’ – Kerry Greenwood, author of the PHRYNE FISHER and CORINNA CHAPMAN series

Visit Sally’s website

Follow Sally on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram