If faithful readers of Sally Andrew’s best-selling Tannie Maria mystery series flip to the end of the latest novel before starting the first chapter, they’re not trying to find out whodunit; they’re looking up the luscious recipes Tannie Maria devises while solving the most recent murder in her Klein Karoo town of Ladismith.
Every novel in the four-book series (with a fifth due out next year) includes a cookery section of Tannie Maria recipes. They are so popular that book club members around the world host Tannie Maria feasts, where everyone provides a dish featured in the stories.
Andrew’s latest book, Recipes to Live For, is not a novel but a cookbook. It features new recipes alongside favourites from the series, illustrated with sumptuous photographs of the food as well as the South African landscape. The book has been shortlisted for the 2024 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in two categories — the Acknowledgements Award and Local Regions Award. Andrew will attend the ceremony in June 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The mystery series is taking platteland culture into far-flung places. The first two books have been printed in 14 languages and are distributed by 23 publishers across five continents. Penguin Publishing considers Andrew one of its best-selling authors.
Andrew says the Tannie Maria stories “are really celebrating South Africa and all the culture and all the food and all the beautiful places. Readers fall in love with the place and the characters and also the principle of kindness” — referring not just to Tannie Maria’s warm heart but also the people of the Karoo community where each story is set.
The themes of food and community life are just as prominent in the TV series based on the books. Recipes for Love and Murder, produced by Both Worlds, is now in its second season and is popular in more than 100 countries. Starring Maria Doyle Kennedy with a South African supporting cast, the series broadcasts locally on DStv and internationally on Acorn TV and other channels.
It’s a big group of people who created this book, sharing their recipes, and the whole cookbook production crew in South Africa
— Sally Andrew
Kindness to others and oneself is an integral part of Andrew’s writing. She grew up in Cape Town during the last years of apartheid. “It was in the days when the ANC was banned,” she recalls. “Instead of going to parties in our teens, we were being arrested and visiting each other in prison. I was at the University of Cape Town in the 1980s, and there was a lot of activity there, so it was quite an exciting time to be alive.”
But the excitement took its toll on her health. “I had myalgic encephalomyelitis, or what they called yuppie flu,” she says. “I just needed to escape from life and sort of crawl under a rock.” She and her partner, wilderness artist Bowen Boshier, eventually settled on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo. “We also travel into deeper wilderness regularly,” she says. “A lot of my books are conceptualised in very wild places — under giant trees, or in the desert, in Botswana or Namibia.”
The possibility of remote working is drawing more people into platteland towns. Andrew says the benefits extend beyond the physical environment. “We live very rich lives; it’s not about what you’re earning,” she says. “We have so much space, we have so much beauty, we have so much connection [with people in the community], and we have space to create. For me, that is real richness.”
The community spirit of the books has translated not just into the plot of the TV series, but into the production process itself. Andrew says: “Writers are kind of the gods of our own world. Whereas with the TV series, there’s a cast of 150 and they all have different roles to play, and it’s this magnificent co-creation.”
While the first season of the series was based on the first book, Recipes for Love and Murder, Andrew says: “Season two is not based on a book. It’s just inspired by the characters.” The transition to co-creation can be difficult for an author, but Andrew relied on the advice of Richard Walter, the chair of the graduate programme in screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles. “He loved the books,” she says. “And he trained me in how to let go. Because it’s a big challenge.”
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Andrew is quick to credit the creative community for her success. In discussing the award shortlisting, she says: “It’s kind of challenging for me to receive an award. But it’s not just about me receiving it, it’s a big group of people who created this book, sharing their recipes, and the whole cookbook production crew in South Africa. And it’s the message of the book that’s being celebrated. Humour, kindness, justice, small-town community, caring, food … love. I feel I need to receive this award on behalf of those good people and things.”
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