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4.0 out of 5 stars
The series is improving as time goes on., Jun 28 2004
Tamar Myers, Custard's Last Stand (Signet, 2002)It's nice to know Ms. Myers listens to her reviews. There's a line buried in this book that sums up every review of every other Magdalena Yoder novel: "It came out as a whine, but my whining is one of my more endearing qualities, don't you think?" Thankfully, Magdalena whines a lot less in this novel (though the repeated-word thing does show up here with a few other terms), and that certainly makes the eleventh novel in the Pennsylvania Dutch (with recipes!) series all the more readable. (Note: the first was published in 1995. That's eleven novels in seven years... and all the while she's also been putting out the Den of Antiquity mysteries, of which the ninth was released in 2002. That's twenty novels in eight years. Mull that over.) This time, Magdalena is confronted with one Colonel George Custard, who plans to build a five-star hotel in Hernia, Pennsylvania, that threatens to put Magdalena out of business. All is well and good, and the townsfolk look forward to a nice big brawl, until Custard turns up dead, with a bullet hole in his head and a few cracked ribs. Magdalena, of course, is on the case. Myers' comedic timing has improved gradually over the years, and there are some unexpected whings in here that actually get the reader to the point of laughing out loud. As with most series fiction, the characters are already drawn, and there are a good number of in-jokes, but Magdalena and company are well-enough portrayed that after about fifty pages, you'll get the in-jokes as if you've been with the series all along. A worthy addition to the series. Now if only Magdalena will stop whining. ***
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