Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes: A Mystery

The plot is more complicated than your average cozy mystery. But you get the full flavor of the diner, its food, and its people, on the south side of Chicago. Savy is both world wise and inexperienced in the ways of crime, which propels the plot without seeming artificial. Forced retirement is a hard pill to swallow, but her sweet potato pie is not.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is the first book in the Savvy Summers Mystery Series by Sandra Jackson-Opoku. The amateur sleuth is Sapphire (Savvy) Summers, the proprietor of Essie's soul food cafe on the south side of Chicago.Savvy and her infamous sweet potato pie end up at the center of a murder mystery when one of her customers (the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer) drops dead in her cafe. To clear her name and protect the reputation of her cafe, Savvy starts sleuthing.I am a huge fan of culinary cozy mysteries. It is my favorite cozy subgenre, so I always look forward to starting a new series that centers around food. I particularly like it when the food is lovingly described and when there are several tasty recipes included at the end of the book. Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes delivers in both of these areas.Savvy is a solid protagonist. She is a strong female character with a healthy dose of sass and wit. She is supported in her investigation by a snoopy assistant (Penny) and her police officer ex-husband (Fanon).The setting and the murder weapon are both unique. This is the first time I have seen either one of them in a cozy mystery. The cast is also more diverse than the average cozy cast. All of these things help the book stand out in a crowded field of culinary cozies.I'm looking forward to trying the recipes from the book. I'd also like to give the audio version of this a try. It is narrated by Karen Chilton, an experienced and award-winning audiobook narrator.

I love cozy mysteries that have a culinary setting, being that I am a foodie. Savvy Summers is the owner of a soul food restaurant that is doing pretty good until a customers dies at one the tables. Of course, Savvy takes it up on herself to solve the mystery along with her business partner. The plot was nicely paced and kept my attention, and Savvy was such a lovable character. I hope this is the start of a long series set in this world!

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is a fun cozy mystery by Sandra Jackson-Opoku. Savvy is a middle-aged divorcee who runs her own soul food café. When an eccentric old man dies in her restaurant, followed soon by another, Savvy and her best friend/café assistant manager decide to get to the bottom of it.I really enjoyed the location and vibe of this mystery. Savvy is pretty up front with her feelings, and she is old enough to know what’s what. She does some snooping but doesn’t do anything really stupid like running into dangerous situations. She’s more likely to get into trouble from helping someone and being kind to the wrong person. The closest side characters are pretty well fleshed out, and their conversations are often amusing.There are a lot of moving parts to this; along with the deaths, there is the question about why someone is so interested in franchising Savvy’s business, a potential romance, the backstories and motives of a fairly large cast of suspects, and how they all relate to each other. It’s handled pretty well but it does slow down the pacing in some parts.Overall, though, this is a very enjoyable mystery with some great references and even better Old Aunt Essie-isms tossed in. I’d definitely read another if this turns into a series.Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.4 stars

For Fans Of: It’s Elementary, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for MurderersRating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕Genre: MysteryViolence: 🪓Spice: 🚫TW: infidelity, loss of spousePremise: When rumor spreads that a customer died from her cooking, restaurateur Savvy vows to solve the mystery & save her soul food cafe.Thoughts: I really enjoyed seasoned author Jackon-Opoku’s 1st foray into cozy mysteries & will definitely return for seconds. This series premier has all the right ingredients: characters brimming with life; memorable settings; & a pleasingly complex mystery. Savvy is a main character who lives up to her name: a whip-smart entrepreneur full of courage who takes no sass from anyone but consistently demonstrates a deep well of empathy. But Savvy is just a start to the delightful cast that includes her brand-name obsessed, true-crime loving sous chef, her teddy bear of an ex-husband, and an unpredictable roster of suspects. Evocative details make Savvy’s cafe burns bright in my mind’s eye, & I found myself salivating over the descriptions of her elevated take on soul food. But as always, I show up 1st & foremost for the mystery, and Jackson-Opoku does not disappoint. What at 1st appears to be a straight-forward question—who poisoned septuagenarian Grandy—grows more twisty as the novel proceeds. Let’s just say that Savvy’s community will be dishing on this revelation for years to come. If you like your cozies with great characters, a touch of comedy, & a complex puzzle, pick up Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes.