Assault And Pepper
A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery
by Tamar Myers
Signet
Mystery
January 3, 2006
ISBN-13: 0451215672
Available in: Paperback
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Assault And Pepper
by Tamar Myers
It's a five-alarm frenzy as Magdalena Yoder and the rest of the congregation of the Beechy Grove Mennonite Church get ready for the annual chili supper cook-off. But just when the devout diners sit down to eat, beloved Reverend Schrock falls face down into his bowl. It seems someone slipped some peanut butter into the chili, knowing full well that the good Reverend was deathly allergic to peanuts.
Never one to turn her back on a weeping widow, Magdalena agrees to investigate. But once she begins to look into the victim's death—and life—she discovers that Schrock wasn't as well liked as she'd thought. There's more than one person with reason to want him dead, including the serial monogamist with a grudge and the wrongly convicted man who spent seven years in jail after the reverend testified against him in court. As more foibles and squabbles amass, Magdalena struggles to find the truth amidst evidence that is becoming a full out assault on the senses...
Other Books by Tamar Myers
Tamar Myers' Bio
Tamar Myers was born and raised in the Belgian Congo (now just the Congo). Her parents were missionaries to a tribe which, at that time, were known as headhunters and used human skulls for drinking cups. Hers was the first white family ever to peacefully coexist with the tribe, and Tamar grew up fluent in the local trade language. Because of her pale blue eyes, Tamar's nickname was Ugly Eyes.
Tamar grew up eating elephant, hippopotamus and even monkey. She attended a boarding school that was two days away by truck, and sometimes it was necessary to wade through crocodile infested waters to reach it. Other dangers she encountered as a child were cobras, deadly green mambas, and the voracious armies of driver ants that ate every animal (and human) that didn't get out of their way.
In 1960 the Congo, which had been a Belgian colony, became an independent nation. There followed a period of retribution (for heinous crimes committed against the Congolese by the Belgians) in which many Whites were killed. Tamar and her family fled the Congo, but returned a year later. By then a number of civil wars were raging, and the family's residence was often in the line of fire. In 1964, after living through three years of war, the family returned to the United States permanently.
Tamar was sixteen when her family settled in America, and she immediately underwent severe culture shock. She didn't know how to dial a telephone, cross a street at a stoplight, or use a vending machine. She lucked out, however, by meeting her husband, Jeffrey, on her first day in an American high school. They literally bumped heads while he was leaving, and she entering, the Civics classroom.
In college Tamar began to submit novels for publication, but it took twenty-three years for her to get published. Persistence paid off, however, because Tamar is now the author of two ongoing mystery series. One is set in Pennsylvania and features Magdalena Yoder, an Amish-Mennonite sleuth who runs a bed and breakfast in the mythical town of Hernia. The other is set in the Carolinas and centers around the adventures of Abigail Timberlake, the proud owner of a Charlotte (and later Charleston) antique store, the Den of Antiquity.
Tamar now calls Charlotte, NC home. She lives with her husband, plus a Basenji dog named Pagan, a Bengal cat named Nkashama, and an orange tabby rescue cat named Dumpster Boy. She and her husband are of the Jewish faith, the animals are not.
Tamar enjoys gardening (she is a Master Gardner), bonsai, travel, painting and, of course, reading. She loves Thai and Indian food, and antique jewelry. She plans to visit Machu Pichu in the near future.
She is currently working on her 30th novel.