RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER – Season 2 Episodes 1 & 2 – SPOILERS ⁓

Aileen McClintock (Robyn Scott) and her husband Gordon (Richard Wright-Firth) have traveled from Scotland to visit Tannie Maria (Maria Doyle Kennedy). Gordon thinks Maria killed her husband, Mickey Purvis, but Aileen isn’t so sure about that. Gordon was a cop back home in Scotland and was forced into early retirement because of his preoccupation with the case, and, over the objections of his superiors, he has managed to re-open the investigation. Maria inherited the house and land where she presently resides from her mother, who died a few weeks before Mickey did, and Mickey left a will leaving all his possessions to his sister Aileen and nothing to Maria. Since Mickey and Maria were “married in community of property“, half of Tannie Maria’s inherited property (it is argued) belongs to Aileen, and she has moved in with Maria to assert her claim.

Maria suggests to Aileen that Gordon married her only to get his hands on the land. This idea is supported (but not proven) by a conversation he has with his lawyer Marius Rabie (Grant Swanby). According to Rabie, developers would snap that land up quickly, perhaps to build a luxury spa there. Gordon was pleased, and said it was “such a relief to deal with a reasonable man, instead of all those female histrionics.”

In that same conversation it is mentioned that Rabie’s ex-wife Dorette (Candice van Litsenborgh), whom we have not seen since “Breakfast for Dinner” (Episode 1.6), recently bought the local grocery and renamed it Dorette’s Deli.

After announcing to Jessie (Kylie Fisher) and Maria that she is running for Mayor, Hattie (Jennifer Steyn) mentions that she is the only one in the room not dating a policeman, and Jessie points out that Constable Klaasen (Megan Alexander) is currently single.

Maria is dating Detective Khaya Meyer (Tony Kgorge), and Jessie is currently with Constable Regardt Snyman (Arno Greeff). Constable Regardt is feeling increasingly neglected due to Jesse’s dedication to her job, and Maria’s relationship with Detective Meyer will soon be strained by the inquiry into Mickey’s death.

Regardt’s brother Jaco (Wynard Ferreira) also comes to town. He is on “parole” from rehab, and is required to attend group sessions run by another new arrival, psychologist and auto mechanic Ricus (Gérard Rudolf), who is nicknamed the “satanic mechanic” because he wears black and likes skulls. Tannie Maria’s car overheats and Rico gets it going again in exchange for a basket of macarons. Maria seems taken with Ricus, and tells him she recently found a duiker skull in her garden, and describes it as “clean and white and rather beautiful”.

“Death is beautiful in its own way,” responds Ricus. “It shouldn’t scare us.”

Maria’s food-and-advice column gets an anonymous letter from Frank (Anele Miloti) wondering how unfaithfulness can possibly be forgiven, and looking for a forgiveness recipe that might save his marriage. It is not clear if he suspects his wife Georgie (Khazi Khubone) of being unfaithful, or if he is feeling guilty about his own actions.

Hattie hires Doep (Terence Bridgett), the local butcher, as her campaign manager, and arranges an outdoor movie night to launch her campaign, but just as she is about to speak, fire breaks out in the town, and Frank is found dead in the ashes. Fire investigator Anna Pretorius (Daneel Van Der Walt) tells Jesse there were at least three different incendiary ignition sites, and Constable Klaasen later explains that “the first fire started at or near the guest house…then spread along Disa Street. There were two vacant homes and then three plots burnt. There was another fire along Protea Avenue that took out five homes, and one along Short Street a block away and that damages six properties.”

Frank’s body was found next to the pool at the guest house, which was owned by the Adventist Church and not insured. The body had froth around the mouth and nostrils, and a serious impact wound on the back of the head. The police conclude that the blow rendered Frank unconscious, and, believing him dead, the killer started the fire to destroy evidence, but Frank regained consciousness and crawled into the pool to avoid the flames. Then he either climbed – or was helped – out of the pool. The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined.

While waiting for his daughter Khazi (Mwake Ngambi) to arrive from Cape Town, Detective Meyer meets Jackie Baloyi (Hlubi Mboya) who is also waiting for her daughter, Zindzi (Muadi Ilung), to arrive. At the same time, Maria pays a visit to the satanic mechanic looking for some chili peppers for a recipe and decides to participate in a group session, during which her mind flashes back to her childhood in the Karoo and we see a six-year-old Maria (Alex Hinchley) and her father Patrick (Nathan Roberts).

Since Detective Meyer must interview Maria about the death of her husband, he postpones his dinner date with Maria, and has dinner with Jackie, who seems much more interested in Khaya than he is in her. Hattie avoids a conflict of interest by naming Jesse interim editor of the newspaper for the duration of her mayoral campaign.

When interviewed about the death of her husband, Georgie does not mention his letter to Tannie Maria, although she has been made aware of it. Maria also fails to mention that letter to police.

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RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER can be streamed on Acorn TV, and is also available on DVD.

Sally Andrew has published her first cookbook, RECIPES TO DIE LIVE FOR, which features recipes from each of the Tannie Maria Mysteries.