The Satanic Mechanic

Reading Sally Andrew's first Tannie Maria mystery, Recipes for Love and Murder, last May was one of the best things I've done all year. Once introduced to this wonderful South African landscape, its culture, and the characters, I snapped up the second book as soon as it was available. I didn't want to read The Satanic Mechanic too soon, I really didn't... but I simply could not deny myself.

The country of South Africa is a character in this book. Andrew's descriptions of the landscape and wildlife are absolutely marvelous and immediately immersed me in the story. Tannie Maria is the type of character who notices changes in the weather and countryside, and how animals are behaving-- and these observations, to varying degrees, usually have show more some sort of impact on the narrative.

To Tannie Maria, cooking equals love. She is falling in love with Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer and this means that her cooking skills are going into overdrive. However, all is not sunshine and flowers in this budding relationship. Maria has demons from her past that must be laid to rest, and to do this she joins an open-air Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder group. Attending the meetings introduces her to the threatened Slimkat.

What subsequently happens to Slimkat is almost incidental until things start happening in the group sessions. In this second book in Sally Andrew's series, the mystery is secondary to her characters, all that delicious food, and the vibrant South African surroundings, but those three things are so rich and satisfying I really didn't mind.

If you love series like Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police or Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri-- series that have wonderful characters, vivid settings, and sumptuous cultures that you can sink into with a sigh-- I urge you to read Sally Andrew's Tannie Maria mysteries (in order). They're wonderful! show less

Though it was way back in 2015 that I read the first book of Sally Andrew’s debut cozy mystery series featuring Tannie Maria, an agony aunt for a rural South African newspaper, who dispenses advice and recipes, when the Crossing Continents Reading Challenge called for a book set in Africa, the series immediately came to mind.

The Satanic Mechanic picks up not too long after the end of Recipes for Love and Murder. Maria has grown more comfortable with her role as the Love Advice and Recipe Column for the Klein Karoo Gazette, a position which she takes very seriously, dispensing common sense and comfort to those who write in, always coupled with a recipe that reinforces her support. If you are a foodie, the dozen or so recipes Andrews show more includes in Satanic Mechanic including West African Chicken Mafe, Venus Cake and Mosbolletjie Bread, will surely delight.

Maria’s romantic relationship with Detective Henk Kannemeyer has also progressed, however Maria, who experienced terrible domestic violence at the hands of her late husband, is finding intimacy difficult due to PTSD. Recognising her need for help, Maria joins a somewhat unconventional support group run by a man nicknamed the Satanic Mechanic, who has an interesting backstory. Andrews writes sensitively of Maria’s issues, and her struggle to resolve them.

The PTSD support group is the setting for one of the murders, which is preceded by the poisoning of a Bushmen representative involved in a legal stoush with corporate interests at a local fair. Finding herself at the scene of both events, Tannie Marie can not help but get involved, much to the chagrin of a worried Henk. To be honest I felt the mystery plot didn’t have the impact it probably should have, but it still held my interest.

One of the main elements I really appreciate in this series is how well the story’s are grounded in their setting. Not only with regards to descriptions of Tannie Maria’s physical environment, but also how smoothly Andrews interjects snippets of Afrikaans into the narrative. In Satanic Mechanic Andrews also touches on some of the cultural and political issues that affect the country, particularly with regards to tension surrounding the rights of Bushmen (or San peoples).

I enjoyed revisiting this series, and though I don’t feel immediately compelled to move on to the last two published books featuring Tannie Maria, I would like to read them eventually. show less

The follow up to the first Tannie Maria mystery, Recipes for Love and Murder, this sophomore entry started off with the same lyrical voice and fabulous atmosphere, but a very disjointed plot.

As the synopsis says, the satanic mechanic is a counsellor specialising in PTSD, whom Tannie Maria consults about her past as an abused spouse. But he doesn’t make an entrance into the story until Chapter 24, page 92. In the meantime, the book starts almost immediately with the murder of a tribal man whose tribe just won a major land case against a diamond mining company and a cattle company. He’s poisoned right in front of Tannie Maria and her now-boyfriend Henk, the chief detective. Her experience with food and cooking gives her the ability to show more spot how he was poisoned and this opens a rift between her and Henk.

This murder has, seemingly, nothing to do with the satanic mechanic, but his reputation as a suspected former satanist makes everybody suspicious, though Tannie Maria finds her group sessions to be the only thing that’s helped her to date, and several incidents, including another murder in the middle of a group session keeps the focus on the titular character.

Everything comes together in the end, but the journey is not, from a writing perspective, a smooth one. The connections revealed at the end make complete sense, but getting there was a clumsy exercise in plotting.

The romance started off a bit sweet – in a good way – but veered into the eye-rolling with Henk’s manufactured drama. I realise attractiveness is entirely subjective, but the author seems to delight in creating male characters that not only defy common stereotypes of attractiveness, but are firmly planted as far away from them as realistically possible. But perhaps I’m totally wrong, and waxed handlebar moustaches and hirsute men are what’s hot in South Africa. It matters little, as the characters are all well drawn with magnetic, if not attractive, personalities.

Once again though, what pretty much kept me glued to the page is the evocative atmosphere of the Klein Karoo and the little side stories that develop from letters written to Tannie Maria in her role as Advice and Recipe columnist. I also enjoyed the somewhat spiritual, somewhat hallucinogenic connections with the African wildlife.

A lot of these first two books is built around Tannie Maria as a victim of spousal abuse (the spouse is dead when the series begins), but by the end of this book, she’s well on her way to putting herself back together, which makes me curious about what kind of book the third one will be. It’s out now, but my library doesn’t currently have it. Might have to go on the to-buy list for 2022. show less

So this was different. Not a bad book. It took me some time to get into it at all. I wasn’t sure how well the food themes were working out, but I finally got to where I could accept and enjoy how all that fit together. I similarly had a hard time with all the characters; none that I could find myself liking until a good way through, and I’m still not sure if I am okay with Kannemeyer.

I really struggled with the eclectic cast of characters, each with their own dizzying myriad of problems, who with the exception of Ricus (who has his own problems), have little to no self-awareness. It’s that stumbling to a successful outcome. It’s the... well, we might all be excessively clueless but if we try hard enough for long enough this will show more all work out... and somehow it actually does!

However, I grew to like the characters as individuals. I liked the Little Karoo setting. I knew the birds and I appreciated their inclusion. I knew some of the Dutch / Afrikaans words and terms, but had no trouble searching the glossary to learn the proper definitions / descriptions / explanations (although I have a deckle edge copy which made separating individual pages difficult, a sometimes frustrating the exercise). Although the glossary could be termed supplemental reading since Sally Andrew did a great writing job and whether it was Afrikaans or another of the various languages used you could figure out the meaning in another sentence or two.

Long story short, it was readable and I’m sure that whenever I happen across another Tannie Maria mystery I will pick it up. But, I have to say, when the main character, and most implausible one, finds themselves repeatedly in the middle of the most bizarre murders and / or crimes time after time... I’m not sure how far you can stretch that character model. I guess time will tell.

I’m only giving this 3-1/2 stars, but... ending with a groundnut stew meal nearly bumped it straight up to 5 stars. Well done there! show less

A "delicious" follow up to Recipes for Love and Murder (Tannie Maria #1). Maria's back with advice, great recipes and involvement in two more murders. Handsome Detective Henk is back, along with co-worker Jessie and boss Hattie. A cast of colourful supporting characters and a twisty plot helps to make this another great read!

A great follow-up to Recipes for Love and Murder. You get to know Tannie Maria, Jessie, Hattie, Detective Kannemeyer, Piet, Reghardt, and Dirk even better and are also introduced to other fascinating characters, including the Satanic Mechanic himself, Ricus. You find out more about Tannie's life with her awful ex-husband and her current life with the handsome detective. The story is interesting and filled with twists and turns and, of course, fabulous food!

I am smitten by Sally Andrew's Tannie Maria series. Although the setting is foreign, she infuses the Klein Karoo, her characters, and even the food with tender familiarity. The audio narrator makes it even better with her lovely accent.