As the World Churns
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Crime
No Use Dying Over Spilled Mik
Just Plain Pickled to Death
Between a Wok and a Hard Place
Eat, Drink, and Be Wary
Play It Again, Spam
®
The Hand That Rocks the Ladle
The Crepes of Wrath
Gruel and Unusual Punishment
Custard’s Last Stand
Thou Shalt Not Grill
Assault and Pepper
Grape Expectations
Hell Hath No Curry
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Myers, Tamar. As the world
churns :
a Pennsylvania Dutch mystery with recipes / Tamar Myers.
p. cm. 1.
Yoder,
Magdalena
(Fictitious character)-Fiction. 2. Women detectives-
Pennsylvania-Fiction.
3. Cookery-Pennsylvania. 4. Pennsylvania Dutch Country (
Fiction. I. Title. PS3563.Y475A9 2008
813'.54-dc22 2007029577
Set in Palatino •
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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For Anne Bohner
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Shelagh Caudle, editor at www.ice-cream-recipes.com, for permission to use the scrumptious ice cream recipes. I would also like to thank my husband, Jeffrey, for all his encouragement and support; my dear friend Gwen Hunter for her friendship and inspiration; and, of course, my four-legged staff of three.
1
Not all men are created equal. I learned this fact while honeymooning with my second husband, the Babester, but I will leave the particulars to your imagination. Suffice it to say, whilst showering that evening, I threw back my head and burst into joyous song. Of course, I took care not to swallow too much water and drown like a turkey in a rainstorm.
“
Oh, sweet mystery of life
,” I trilled, “
at last I’ve found you!
”
“Hon, are you all right?”
“Right as rain!
Never been better.
Tut-tut, cheerio, and all that sort of rot.”
Gabe stuck his head into the tiny bathroom. Fortunately, the shower curtain was opaque.
“I thought maybe you’d hurt yourself.”
“No sirree, Bob. I am as fine as frog’s hair.”
“Boy, you sound happy.”
“Never happier.
In fact, I was just thinking-”
“Just a second, hon, the phone’s ringing.”
“Let it ring.
Ta-ling-a-ling-ling.”
“But it might be Ma.”
As my sweet baboo ran off to answer that stupid machine, my rare good mood dissipated like steam from a mirror.
We’d been married for less than six hours and this was the second time my mother-in-law had called. Our wedding was supposed to have cut the apron strings that tied son to mother, but what good did that do when the two of them were joined at the hip? It was going to take a team of orthopedic surgeons to separate this pair.
“Tell your mother to take a long walk off a short pier, dear.” It’s all in the delivery, you see? Had my tone been any lighter, I might well have bumped my head on the ceiling, thereby adding to the dent that was already there. On the ceiling that is, not my head.