No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk

April 1, 1996
Magdalena Yoder, Mennonite proprietor of the PennDutch Inn in Hernia, Penn., returns from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime for a third mystery with an Amish twist. Magdalena, her worldly younger sister, Susannah, and Freni Hostetler, cousinly relation and cook at the inn, go to Farmersburg, Ohio, for the funeral of Yost Yoder, who drowned in a vat of milk on his farm. Magdalena meets other relatives who recognize her Yoder nose and large feet; she learns of another recent death in the community, that of Levi Mast in a fall from his silo. Since both farmers had been supplying milk to the Daisybell Dairy, Magdalena's suspicions are raised and she decides to investigate, while trying to avoid the sardine-dominated cooking of her hostess and keeping tabs on the nymphomaniac Susannah. The plot is straightforward, almost transparent, in places, and the Amish characters (some of whom seem more simpleminded than simple) are frequently the butt of heavy-handed humor based on physical characteristics, such as Sheriff Marvin Stolzfus's big ears and Magdalena's own clodhopping feet. Also present in this unsurprising tale are Magdalena's love interest, Aaron Miller (known as Pooky Bear), and a sampling of recipes, e.g., Freni Hostetler's Poor Man's Goulash.

April 1, 1996
Billed as "a Pennsylvania-Dutch mystery with recipes," Myers' story is as sweet as a piece of brown-sugar pie (recipe, page 144). In fact, the recipes are the best part of the book, since the plot itself is a saccharine meringue of country folk wisdom and Amish lore thinly disguised as a murder mystery. Magdalena Yoder, proprietor of the PennDutch Inn, travels to Ohio when one of her relatives is found floating facedown in a milk tank. Soon after she arrives, a second relative dies in a fall from a silo. Magdalena quickly discovers that a rivalry over who makes the best cheese in the county is at the bottom of the trouble. If the humor tends to be kindergarten-simple, if Magdalena's sister Susannah simpers once too often, and if Myers is heavy on annoying alliterations and light on substance, it's easy enough to forgive because Magdalena is so likable and because the story is just so, well . . . nice. ((Reviewed April 1, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)