Mean and Shellfish: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery

Business is thriving at the PennDutch Inn in Hernia, Pa., in Myers’s zany 22nd Pennsylvania Dutch mystery (after 2019’s Puddin’ on the Blitz). Many are eager to enjoy the Amish experience, which means cellphones are confiscated at the door, and there are no electric outlets or lights in the guest rooms. For a few hundred dollars more, guests can clean the bathrooms, muck out the barn, and pluck chickens. Magdalena Yoder, the inn’s owner, has just welcomed some new guests when the town’s police chief arrives to whisk her to a crime scene. The bodies of a man and a woman have been found in a dumpster. With Sherlock Holmes–like precision, Magdalena analyzes the scene. She then heads back to the inn, where a surprise guest awaits her: her husband Max’s long-estranged Australian cousin, Miriam. Other improbable but amusing people turn up in Hernia for the annual Billy Goat Gruff Festival, which is soon plagued by unpleasant pranks. Magdalena maintains her wry sense of humor, even as she becomes the target of a killer. Fans of wackier culinary cozies will have fun. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (May)