e-Audio, 09:20:33
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Release Date: July 29, 2025
Published by: Macmillan Audio/ Minotaur Books
Read from: July 10-11, 2025
Savvy Summers Series, #1
Source: Libro FM (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and Libro FM. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Infidelity, Toxic Relationship, Death, Domestic Abuse, Murder, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Drug Abuse, Drug Use
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Cozy Mystery, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Adult, Baking, Foodie Fiction, Own Voices, Realistic FictionA 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.
*MY THOUGHTS*
While in my reading slump, I discovered another genre I can read to get out of my slumps… Cozy mysteries. The funnier the better. Which is why I LOVED this one. I could feel myself slipping into one and then I started this, saw what this case was about, and I lost it and couldn’t stop laughing. And this is how I fell in love with Savvy lol
So there was so much I laughed about in this book. The first thing was the very beginning before anything happened. She did this long speech to say thank you that was so heartfelt and then all of a sudden, she called him out for cheating. In front of everyone lol And I remember barking out a laugh because I was so caught off guard. I felt bad because of what happened to her, but I laughed my ass off because she got her revenge. And the other thing that made me laugh was the rumor that it was Savvy’s pies. One thing about Black people, ESPECIALLY if they’re chefs, they’re proud of their food. And for anybody to talk bad about the desserts or pies that they have become famous for, I can guarantee it won’t end well. And sure enough, they were going at it lol
The mystery itself was good. I didn’t know who it was, but that was because she only metered out information a little at a time. And usually that annoys me, but in this story I think it actually made sense? She was finding out information a little at every meal she served, so it made sense that she only found out some here and there. But I will say, once I knew what the murder weapon was, I knew how they did it. Like immediately. Also, this book shocked me. Normally I would have DNFed this because of the OD (y’all know how I am about substance abuse) but this one was actually more shocking and I was so caught off guard.. He OD’ed on Viagra. I ended up just reading it to find out what happened because I hadn’t ever read a book that had this in it lol
The characters were ok. I wanted Savvy to be more funny than she was tho. All the side characters were funny, but Savvy seemed basic? Idk how to explain it. Like all the side characters had big personalities and were so much fun. Like the person she owned the restaurant with. I loved her. She was hilarious but she also had her own problems. I loved how well rounded she was. Savvy usually wasn’t like that, so I didn’t get how this happened. She was so good throughout this whole book but only to make sure that people couldn’t blame anything on her pies and ruin her reputation. Which I get, so it’s hard for me to understand how she wasn’t mad. She had all this happening to her restaurant, but literally nothing made her mad. I don’t understand how she was just like eh ok to all of this.
The writing style was good, made even better by the audio narration. Karen Chilton has narrated a number of audiobooks. I thought I hadn’t listened to any, but I looked and there were so many. Definitely one of my favorites and I didn’t even know. I will be looking for more ASAP. Just like you should. Go ahead and start with this one and we can both keep going from there.
Overall, I give this
