Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Christiaan Olwagen, Acorn TV.
Described as ‘dangerously delicious’, Recipes for Love and Murder is a 10-part original, interesting murder mystery set in the South African outback.
The series follows a newspaper recipe advice columnist, Tannie Maria (Auntie Maria in Afrikaans), who offers guidance and counsel and helps investigate crimes in her small town in the vibrant, beautiful region of the Karoo in South Africa.
Award-winning actress Maria Doyle Kennedy (Outlander, Orphan Black, The Tudors, Kin) stars in the main role.
Tannie Maria lives in the small town of Eden and is obsessed with food. She’s a bit of an oddity in this very hot and dry farming region of the Karoo, having arrived 10 years ago from Scotland, when she inherited her great aunt’s house.
She sees food as “medicine for the body and heart”. She envies romance as much as she enjoys cooking and eating. However, a death shakes up Tannie Maria’s life, when one of the correspondents to her column is brutally murdered. Martine’s murder shakes up the whole town, skeletons come flying out of closets, and danger lurks around every corner.
Maria joins forces with a local, risk-taking, rookie journalist and sometimes rival, Jessie September (newcomer Kylie Fisher) to investigate the murder.
When The Karoo Gazette insists on replacing her recipe page with an Agony Aunt column, Tannie Maria discovers she has a gift for helping people to deal with their heartaches and confront their fears – with just the right recipe in the mix every time.
This murder mystery series with a spicy comedic flavor is based on the best-selling Tannie Maria books by Sally Andrew, and set in the breathtaking landscapes of South Africa and Scotland.
It is directed by Christiaan Olwagen (Kanarie, Poppie Nongena) and
adapted for television by South African writer/director Karen Jeynes (Puppet Nation, 90 Plein Street), with Scotland-based director/writer Annie Griffin (Avenue 5, Outlander) as story consultant.
- Recipes for Love and Murder is streaming on Acorn TV
