Eat, Drink, and Be Wary by Tamar Myers (1998)

My delicious colleague, Judi Keller, has told me about yet another reference to Scranton in Tamar Myers's popular culinary mysteries, and this particular reference seems to be a running joke about one of the characters in her series.

In 1998's Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery With Recipes, Magdalena Yoder's popular PennDutch Inn in Amish Country is having a cooking contest that is interrupted by the discovery of a corpse found in the barn. Old Matilda, one of the resident cows, stands accused of fatally kicking the deceased, who happens to ahve been the CEO of a gourmet food company sponsoring the contest. But Yoder smells something else cooking and wonders if one of the contestants is the real culprit.

The Scranton reference occurs on page 25 of the paperback and involves Yoder's nemesis and all-around nincompoop, Police Chief Melvin Stoltzfus:

"The man is as bright as a two-watt bulb. He once sent a gallon of ice cream to his favorite aunt in Scranton - by U.P.S."

Another of Myers' books, Between a Wok and a Hard Place, also included a similar reference to Chief Stoltzfus having ice cream delivered to his cousin in Scranton, so the story seems to be a recurring point of humor among the characters in the series.

Eat, Drink, and Be Wary is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System; to place a hold, click here.

Much thanks to Judi Keller for this appetizing reference.