Sally Andrew
Agent: Isobel Dixon
Assistant: Sian Ellis-Martin
Biography: 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. The latest instalment of the Tannie Maria series is THE MILK TART MURDERS, published by Penguin Random House South Africa in 2022.
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. It was recently adapted for television and is available to stream on on Acorn TV in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand, and Latin America.
‘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
‘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
‘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
Follow Sally on X (previously Twitter).
RECIPES TO LIVE FOR
Cookery, 153 pages
Penguin Random House South Africa, May 2024
Tannie Maria, everyone’s favourite amateur detective and agony aunt, has finally heeded the call of her fans countrywide to produce her very first cookbook. RECIPES TO LIVE FOR features recipes from Sally Andrews’ first four murder mystery novels, as well as some tantalising new additions.
Spiced with enjoyable sayings from the four novels, as well as letters written to ‘Tannie Maria’s Love Advice and Recipe Column’, and seasoned with photographs of the food and the beautiful Karoo, RECIPES TO 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 a vetkoek with mince, or are lus for a melktert or koeksister, you will find it among Tannie Maria’s gastronomic delights.
THE MILK TART MURDERS
Crime, 408 pages
Umuzi, March 2022
Who knew a Marilyn Monroe movie could kill you? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik’s Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene. Ja, the old thrift-shop owner had a heart condition, but was there more to his demise? It’s rumoured that among Frik’s junk are valuable treasures, and the grumpy, paranoid old guy frequently altered his will.
When a second body turns up, there’s a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice – and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony-aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Maria’s food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk.
Maria and Jessie step into deep danger, but all is not doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wife’s stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, for better or for worse. Perhaps, once the Klein Karoo crime-buster’s work is done, she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe.
DEATH ON THE LIMPOPO
Crime, 350 pages
Umuzi, September 2019
Tannie Maria might be the Karoo’s favourite agony aunt, but when it comes to matters of her own heart, she doesn’t have all the answers. Why is she having trouble telling her beau – the dashing Detective Henk Kannemeyer with the chestnut moustache – that she loves him?
There are other, more pressing problems too. A tall, dark stranger zooms in on her Ducati motorbike: she is Zabanguni Kani, a journalist renowned for her political exposés, who, after receiving threats, moves in with Tannie Maria for safety.
And who could tell that a trip to the country’s northern parts was on the cards? The journey plunges Maria and her friends into pools of danger, amid water maidens, murders, and Harley Davidsons.
RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER
Crime, 376 pages
Canongate, November 2015
A delicious new mystery series with a lovable, unforgettable heroine. Tannie Maria used to write a recipe column for the Klein Karoo Gazette. Then Head Office decided they wanted an advice column instead, so now she gives advice. In the form of recipes. Because, as she says, she may not know much about love, but food—that’s her life.