Death by Tart Attack
Shockwaves are running through the small town of Hernia with the news that an enormous, biblical-themed amusement park is to be built on its doorstep, destroying the community's peaceful way of life for ever. And the man spearheading this so-called Armageddonland? None other than Magdalena's ex-husband, the duplicitous Aaron Miller.
At a public demonstration to showcase his plans for the new park, Aaron bites into a delicious homemade tart – with fatal consequences. It's clear the tart was poisoned . . . but who baked it?
As the leader of the local resistance against the project and her acrimonious history with her ex well known, Magdalena immediately falls under suspicion. Determined to clear her name, she resolves to find the real killer, and soon finds herself wrestling with a number of scandalous secrets that lurk beneath Hernia's seemingly staid surface.
Kirkus Review
A conservative Mennonite woman who’s a magnet for murder must contend with a homicide that cuts close to the bone. Magdalena Portulacca Yoder Miller Rosen is a wealthy woman; mayor of Hernia, Pennsylvania; mother of brilliant 10-year-old Jacob; adoptive mother of 22-year-old Alison; and wife of Dr. Gabriel Rosen, whose Jewish faith makes him an unlikely consort. Awoken in the middle of the night by loud trucks, Magdalena and Gabe rush out to discover a convoy heading for Hernia. To Magdalena’s horror, it’s headed by Aaron Miller, Alison's birth father, the man who once married her even though he was already married, who’s obviously broken the agreement he made when she gave him $50,000 to leave and never return. Aaron wants to build Armageddonland, an apocalyptic theme park, and it’s clear he’ll succeed only over Magdalena’s dead body. Although she tries to rally the local Amish and Mennonites to oppose the plan and refuse to sell Aaron any land, she’s disturbed to discover that half of the locals think the park would be a perfectly good thing for the area. Back at her highly successful inn, she must deal with two atheist friends of Gabe’s and with Alison’s realization that she has a brother who, unlike Alison, was not left behind when Aaron decamped. When Aaron dies at a meeting over the theme park while stuffing his face with homemade tarts, Magdalena barely escapes arrest, and, ever curious, not to say meddlesome, she embarks on her own investigation. Of all Magdalena’s rollicking adventures, this one contains the best mystery.