No Use Dying over Spilled Milk: A Pennsylvania-Dutch Mystery with Recipes (Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery) (Paperback)

by Tamar Myers (Author) "Yost Yoder drowned in a tank of unpasteurized milk..." (more)
Key Phrases: convenient coupon, milk tank, hay pile, Miss Yoder, Danny Hern, Annie Stutzman (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
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.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
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. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Signet (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451188543
• ISBN-13: 978-0451188540
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #571,207 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a hoot!, August 12, 2000

By A Customer

I just got through reading this book and what a hoot it was. This is the first book of Tamar's I've read and can't wait to read the others in this series. Kinda like Fannie Flagg meets Nancy Drew.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulously funny and mysterious!, March 30, 2001

By	Stephan Nance (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This series just gets better and better. In this installment, Magdalena Yoder receives a phone call telling her that a distant cousin, Yost Yoder, has drowned in a vat of milk---naked. So it's off to Ohio for Magdalena, her sister Susannah, and cook and close friend Freni Hostetler, for the funeral. But they find out that Yost was not the first to die recently. There was also the mysterious death of Levi Mast, who crowed like a rooster on top of the silo and then fell to his death. And Magdalena discovers that Yost mooed like a cow before drowning in the milk vat. Things just keep getting stranger and stranger, and more and more mysterious, until finally, the killer is revealed. This hilarious book is reccommended for fans of Finnegan Zwake Mysteries, and any other good, funny, fantastic books.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked others in the series ....., May 24, 1999

By A Customer

I'm reading my way through Ms. Myers' Pennsylvania Dutch/Magdelena Yoder series and have liked them.

This one, where Magdelena and her wild sister and crusty cook take off to Ohio, disappointed me. I figured out the ending long before I should have and I missed the Hernia, Pennsylvania, locals. I'll keep reading these books, because I like all the characters, even Schnookums....the rat dog....

This one just didn't seem as good as the rest.