| Title | : | Just Plain Pickled to Death (Pennsylvania Dutch, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0451192931 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780451192936 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 1997 |
A twenty-year-old barrel of genuine Pennsylvania Dutch sauerkraut isn’t Magdalena Yoder’s idea of a great wedding present from her future father-in-law. Especially when it has a corpse in it. And it sure puts Mennonite-born Magdalena, owner of the picturesque PennDutch Inn, in a pickle. She has just one week before she ties the knot with the man of her dreams—and this bride of forty-four will allow nothing to delay her nuptials, even murder.
Of course, Magdalena recognizes the victim, who is as well preserved as a gherkin. It’s her fiancé’s cousin Sarah, who’s been missing for years. Soon Magdalena’s inn is filled with unwanted guests—eccentric aunts and loopy uncles of the deceased. And Magdalena—shrewd as she is peppery—suspects one of them is the killer. Now she is over a barrel, blowing the lid off a mystery two decades old, and digging up a scandal that may shake her Amish hometown to the bedrock and send her to a funeral—her own—instead of her wedding day!
Just Plain Pickled to Death (Pennsylvania Dutch, #4) Reviews
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You will end up hating the name pookie bear if you read this lol.
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Just Plain Pickled to Death (Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery)
by Tamar Myers
5.0 out of 5 stars Just Plain Fun!, November 9, 2013
I started reading this series a few books ago and plan on continuing with the Pennsylvania Dutch series until the end. Love it!
This latest entry(for me that is) is a hoot. The fun is just beginning when Magdalena's future in-laws arrive at the PennDutch Inn for her wedding to Aaron Miller. The wedding hasn't even begun to be planned when a murder victim is found in one of their wedding presents...a 20 year old barrel of sauerkraut.
Please don't think you've read it all until you get to the last chapter. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face.
Lean back and enjoy a fun cozy
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While I enjoyed this book for what it is, I found myself annoyed by the author over using the word ‘wailing.’ The main character was either whining or wailing so often it rendered the plot more absurd. I can only care about someone like that for so long. It seemed removed from the way the narrator was in the previous books. Also the extensive use of the pet name Pookie Bear just got under my skin.
The wedding was also slightly absurd and I just thought it could’ve been better.
Overall, it was a good read and will probably read the next as the back summary states a plot point not even touched upon in this book. -
Magdalena Yoder and Aaron Miller are going to be married in a few days. As a wedding present, Aaron Sr. sent over a barrel of sauerkraut. When it was opened, Sarah Weaver's body (a cousin of Aaron Miller) was revealed. She had been missing for quite some time. Magdalena wants this murder solved before her wedding!
Aaron's family had descended on the PennDutch Inn, several aunts and their husbands. Magdalena also tracked down Sarah's father, Jonas Weaver. A search of the Miller family farm reveals some family secrets; but nothing about the murder. Jonas had a diary and the Miller pack-ratting reveals a bunch of letters. It is revealed that Jonas Weaver was sterile, so his wife Rebecca had to have had an affair. The person who fathered Sarah may be the murderer! Magdalena goes to confront Jonas, only to be tied up and nearly BBQ'd. Her dream wedding is rained out, so she has her wedding in the barn.
Susanna has also gotten a job. She names paint samples! And she's good at it - she won a contest at work and dedicated the paint sample book to her sister! Books go out next season.
Recipes:
Magdalena Yoder's Wedding Feast, from Soup to Nuts
First the Soup: Great-Granny Yoder's Onion Cheese Soup
Then some Salad: Freni Hostetler's Wilted Dandelion Salad
The Meat Course: Auntie Leah's Pork Chops mit Sauerkraut und Apples
Potatoes, Please: Auntie Magdalena's Potato Dumplings
Finally the Nuts: Barbara Hostetler's Save-The-Day Pecan Pies -
AUTHOR: Tamar Myers
TITLE: Just Plain Pickled to Death
DATE READ: 12/20/20
TIME/PLACE: 2:30 pm in bed in MBR
RATING: 7/10
FIRST SENTENCE: Sarah Weaver was found dead in a barrel of pickled sauerkraut.
GENRE: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Crime Fiction
PUB DATE/PUBLISHER: Oct 1, 1997 Signet
TYPE: Paperback
# OF PAGES: 267
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: series #4 PA Dutch Mystery with Recipes
CHALLENGE: 52 Books in 52 Weeks - A book with recipes inside / Goodreads Bookcrossing Library Challenge - A Crime novel
LIST READ: favorite authors
CHARACTERS: Magdalena Yoder, sister Susannah, Aaron Yoder, Diane Lefcourt
LOCATION: Hernia, PA
COMMENTS: This series is light-heartedly funny and I can't keep from laughing. What happens when a double funeral proceeds a wedding? When the entire Amish/Mennonite family is invited is one of them the killer? As Alanis says "It's like rain on your wedding day" -
These books are so funny. First of all, each title is a food pun and there are recipes throughout. This is one of the few series I read out of order. I just read them as I find them. I am fascinated by her descriptions of Mennonites and Amish. Magdalena is difficult to picture, but she and all the rest of the characters are a hoot. If you want a quick mystery read that makes you laugh, this is the series for you.
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Madelena has really gotten herself in a pickle this time, and RIGHT as she is getting ready for her long-awaited wedding and foray into married life! ACH, what a mess! But she handles it with her usual style and, erm...~cough cough~ grace, and as always, leaves us laughing!
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I've always been curious about Amish and Mennonite culture, and while this book may not tell me much about how these folks live, it sure was entertaining! This is the first book by this author and in this series that I've read, but I will likely seek out others.
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Great series. The characters are all a bit goofy and throwing a strange word your way. Laugh out loud funny.
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This is the fourth mystery featuring the most unusual Amish/Mennonite woman on the earth, in my opinion.
There were a few too many characters and this made the story line confusing. -
I had read a previous book in this series years ago and hoped this one was better. The author tries to be outrageously funny and just ends up outrageous. Painfully so.
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I want to like this series more than I actually do. I convince myself that I’ll like them better if I try another one, but usually walk away with very mixed feelings. I like the mysteries with their plots and the amateur sleuthing to find out who’s guilty and who’s not. However, I don’t really like Magdalena as a person, and she comes off as being more churlish then funny. I think the author is trying for funny, but it’s like having too much frosting on a piece of cake. I find myself losing patience with her as the story moves along, and that means I end up reading these books in very small doses.
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This is the 4th book in the series. I've actually surprised myself by reading this many and even more surprising is that I plan to continue. Magdalena seems such a prickly, ill-tempered and cold person - and yet, there's a strength and even an odd sort of goodness that compels me to want to read more.
In this novel, we meet her fiance Aaron's aunties who are also referred to as the "Beeftrust". We assume it is due to their size given Magdalena's description of them, but later find out there is another reason. All auntie's having quite different personalities, I found myself reacting to each one much the same way as Magdalena did. (So what does that say about me? Prickly, ill-tempered, and cold?)
The mystery was good - less formulaic than the previous three in the series. The humor was outrageous. Twice I got an extremely long case of the giggles and as a matter of fact laughed until the tears ran down my face. This is where there is room for an interesting debate: how funny would Magdalena saying, "Well, I never!" in response to one of Aaron's newly introduced aunties have been, had I not had the context of the previous 3 books? It's hard to say . . .
However, I do know that I am enjoying the series the deeper I get into it. And goodness sakes, other readers must be too. There are umpteen more books to go in this rather unusual series, and I plan to read at least a couple more. -
Magdalena Yoder, the owner of the Penn-Dutch Inn is finally getting married. Not only is she busy planning her wedding, and dealing with her future husband's relatives who are staying at the Inn, but her future father-in-law gives her a barrel of sauerkraut as a wedding gift, which contains the remains of Aaron (the groom's) cousin who has been missing for 20 years. Magdalena doesn't want anything to spoil her wedding and tries to find the killer before the day of her wedding.
As always, Myers fills the book with quirky characters, many of whom are suspects. Her books are laugh out loud funny, in fact, I'm still laughing over the last two pages! -
I finished this last night. It was a good book. Strange but kept my interest. It is about Pennsylvania Dutch people. There are receipes throughout the book, although I did not find any that were interesting enough to copy. It was a mystery and I had no idea who dun it. It was a fast read and something I didn't really have to think about. Right now it seems to be the only kind of book that appeals to me.
I don't want to have to think about what I'm reading or try to figure out what the author is trying to say. It was worth the time. -
This was a humorous, entertaining cozy mystery. The narrator is Magdalena Yoder,a Mennonite, and she is finally getting to marry the man of her dreams. She finds herself having to solve two twenty-year old murders before the festivities can begin.
Her husband-to-be has five uncles and their wives who come early and stay at Magdalena's inn, the Penn-Dutch. Each of these people has their own quirks and problems, and possibly, one of the uncles is the murderer!
With so many different people I had a tough time keeping the uncles straight. Otherwise it was a very fun read. -
Light, no-brainer, funny mystery. Not great literature, but hit the spot for right now. Magdalena Yoder is quirky and good for a chuckle. And I'm always up for a good whodunnit. The ending kinda irritated me. I felt a little as if Myers wrote this book herself not knowing the culprit and then just picked a person out of the hat at the end. There was not much, if any, groundwork laid leading up to who the killer was. Oh well, it was still fun to read.
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This book started with a bang, slid into a slow space, and wandered through clutural clues, strange relatives and an in competent police office. Familial connections and cross connections compounded the problems of a 20 year old murder. Although I was not compelled to read this in one sitting, I read it in bits and pieces unwilling to stop reading before finding out who did the murder. The main character is fiesty, cursty and oddly enough likeable. A pleasnat read.
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Magdalena's long awaited wedding day is a week away when a body is found in a barrel of pickled sauerkraut, and Magdalena is going to do whatever she can to see this murder is solved fast! This is the fourth book in the Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery With Recipes cozy mystery series and it is a good mystery and so much fun. I'm looking forward to the next one when I hope the author will spill some details about the honeymoon!
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This was the first in the Penn Dutch series I had read. I really enjoyed the mystery aspect with a 20 year old murder to solve and didn't know who the murderer was until the end (although even I could tell that Magdalena kept suspecting the wrong people). The downside was that I didn't really like the characters.
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I needed to read this book for a couple of reading challenges. I had started this series years ago and with this one, I remember anew why I stopped. The mystery was good and I didn't guess the culprit at all. But her character is more annoying than amusing. She's always wailing about something and calling her man "pooky bear" was just too much to put up with for more than one book.
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This was a really cute--but not cutesy--cozy read. Myers must have chortled while she wrote it. The most unlikely events become true, and we know it is not intended to be hard criminal science, but just for fun.
I have a slight preference toward her Den of Antiquity series, but give this one a shot when the price and convenience are right. -
What do you do when your wedding gift contains a dead body? If you're Magdalena Yoder, you get busy trying to solve the case--no matter how old--before you say, "I do." This is only the third book of hers I've read, but I highly recommend this author. Tamar Myers has such a way with words that she gets me laughing, and any book that can do that is wonderful.
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The fourth book in the series was enjoyable as always, and when something could go wrong with her wedding, it did. Seemed a little forced compared to the previous books. Since I think they are getting too forced and silly, I am abandoning the series.
