murder, she roasted
Savvy Summers waited until she was retired from teaching to open her restaurant. She taught English and had been assistant principal when she retired. And then she opened up Essie’s Place as an homage to her great-aunt, who had taught her to cook. Now Savvy runs her soul food cafe and catering company to bring delicious food to Chicago’s South Side.
Savvy is also a bit of a miracle worker for her clients. As she’s catering the fiftieth wedding anniversary party for Grandy and Mattie Jaspers. the triple-tiered coconut cake that had been ordered from a local bakery was destroyed when the deliveryman tripped going into the kitchen. So Savvy booked it back to her diner and raided her refrigerator. She saved dessert with several sweet potato pies and peach cobblers. But despite the delicious food, the night ended on a sour note when Mattie stood up and announced that she knew all about Grandy’s two-timing her.
The party cleared out pretty soon after that, but as Savvy was experimenting with a vegan version of her sweet potato pie the next morning, Grady is standing outside Essie’s in the cold, just waiting for her to open for the day. He’s always there in the morning, for her coffee and a biscuit. But this morning is different, as he dies while in the cafe. When it was determined that he had been poisoned, Essie’s Place is shut down. But Savvy knows that he wasn’t killed by anything she had cooked, not even the vegan sweet potato pie. But she also knows she has to figure out who did kill him to clear her name and her reputation.
As Savvy finds herself digging through fifty years of history and heartbreaks, friendships and profession, reputation and legacy, she gets closer to figuring out who had the motive and opportunity to kill Grandy. She has the help of her best friend and assistant manager Penny as well as her police sergeant ex-husband, but she also has to fend off the professional advances of a man who wants not only her cafe but also the name and recipes to franchise. But unless she figures out who poisoned Grandy, she won’t have a restaurant to keep or to sell. And in the course of figuring that out, she needs to keep herself safe from a killer.
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is the first in a series of cozy novels about a smart woman and her soul food cafe. Savvy is as smart as she sounds, in running her business, running her life, and running a murder investigation. She and her friends have big personalities and mouth-watering recipes, and they are not afraid to use them.
I listened to Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes on audio book, narrated to perfection by Karen Chilton. She brought all of Savvy’s sass and smarts to the role as she told the tale of Savvy’s first case. Listening to this book was delicious, and the only thing I was missing was my own slice of sweet potato pie.
Egalleys for Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes were provided by Minotaur Books and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
