Publications
Partners
Tannie Maria & the Satanic Mechanic: A Tannie Maria Mystery by Sally Andrew (first published in 2016 by Umuzi, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa)
In Recipes for Love and Murder we met Tannie Maria. In Satanic Mechanic, we get to know her a little better. After surviving a kidnapping, she’s back to do what she does best – eat, cook and give advice.
Life has pretty much returned to normal, except that the hunky Detective Kannemeyer is now in the picture.
However, Tannie M is finding the adjustment challenging.
Flashbacks of her ex and deep-buried guilt start to surface, which are only compounded by diet pills and the murder of a local Bushman activist, Slimkat.
As Tannie Maria and her team attempt to find the killer and unravel the tale, she needs to face her own demons and unravel her past. Enter Ricus, an unorthodox mechanic with a seemingly sketchy past who hosts PTSD counseling sessions.
To the joy of Tannie M, food plays a vital role in the group sessions, and she finds herself beginning to heal. However, true to form, amid all the goings-on, Tannie Maria finds herself once again in the middle of a criminal investigation, eager to find the bad guy.
Tannie Maria and the Satanic Mechanic is a step deeper into the psyche of an abused woman.
It very tactfully and gracefully discusses trauma in varying shades and with a myriad consequences – Tannie M is the voice of one victim in a world of many, and learns that speaking out and acting are always better than internalising guilt and shame.
She is also proof that you cannot love someone else if you don’t love yourself. Sally Andrew, in her own endearing way, has written a plea to the abused and neglected to not let their circumstances pull them under, and to seek help and comfort.
Read more of Samantha’s reviews on her book blog.
Purchase a copy of the book from Takealot.com.
You might also like:
Book review: Crooks and Straights by Masha du Toit
Book review: Like it Matters by David Cornwell
