Dru’s Short Musing:
When a customer dies at her café, Savvy starts looking into things to save her reputation and her business.
This well-written drama was unputdownable quickly becoming a page-turner with its crisp writing and comfortable tone making it easy to follow along with what the author intended. The mystery was nicely defined with a solid plot or two, a pool of suspects, sprinkled with savory and sweet clues that kept me immersed in all aspects. With visually descriptive narrative and engaging dialogue that brought out the spirit of Chicago to the page, I felt like I was part of the action, rooting Savvy and her friends along as they sought their prey. The cast of characters were plentiful, some likeable, some quirky, some not but their roles were pivotal in how well the story was being told. When I thought I had a handle on the perpetrator, the author changed directions and I enjoyed watching it all play out piece by piece, until the last person standing was the killer. I love the pairing of Savvy with her employee Penny. They bring humor to the pages as they traipse after a killer hiding in plain sight.
This was is a delectably appetizing whodunit is a great addition to the cozy culinary genre and will have you salivating for more time with Savvy and her friends.
Series Name: A Savvy Summers Mystery | Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: July 29, 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Book Synopsis:
A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café.
When Savvy Summers first opened Essie’s soul food café, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie’s reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area.
Even as the police deem Grandy’s death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself—and her beloved café—in the middle of an entire city’s worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager, Penny Lopés, take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy.
But with a slimy investor harassing her to sell her name and business, customers avoiding her sweet potato pie like the plague, and her police sergeant ex-husband suddenly back in the picture, will Savvy be able to clear the café’s name and solve Grandy’s murder before it all falls apart?
After all, while Savvy always said her sweet potato pie was to die for, she never meant literally.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.