Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes

Author: Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Series: Savvy Summers #1

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Date: July 29, 2025

Many thanks to Minotaur Books for a complimentary arc of this title for review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

 

A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café.

Review:

SAVVY SUMMERS and the SWEET POTATO CRIMES is a well-crafted, cozy murder mystery with a unique, middle-aged protagonist whose talent for serving the best soul food and sweet potato pie has made her restaurant on Chicago's south side famous. Business is booming . . . until seventy-five-year-old Grandy Jaspers drops dead while sitting at table two eating Savvy's to-die-for sweet potato pie. While police rule the death as accidental, the bad press spreads like wildfire and just like that, the business is in trouble. With suspicions and rumors flying, Savvy decides to go uncover as an amateur sleuth and find out what really killed Grandy. She knows it wasn't her sweet potato pie. Joined by sidekick assistant manager Penny Lopes, Savvy cooks up a plan to clear her name and keep her restaurant afloat. 

Author Sandra Jackson-Opoku's debut novel is a cozy mystery with a ton of laughs, soul food, and murder all tossed in a pot and served up as a deliciously entertaining whodunnit that's highly entertaining. Savvy is a strong, spunky character that readers will identify with as is her quirky sidekick, Penny. They play off each other in a manner reminiscent of Lucy and Ethel of I Love Lucy fame which is hilarious. I enjoyed the introduction of a middle-aged main character with a sharp mind unafraid to stand up for herself. A large, convoluted cast of characters seem a bit confusing at first, but roles are soon claimed, and the story is off and running. A sea of red herrings threatens to spoil the stew, but Savvy Summers won't stop until she sifts through facades and unearths the truth. Afterall, her reputation as a chef and her famous sweet potato pie are at risk.

 SAVVY SUMMERS and the SWEET POTATO PIE is an entertaining cozy mystery with charismatic characters serving up a plate full of soul food. Armchair detectives will enjoy figuring out whodunnit while rolling on the floor in laughter. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for Savvy and her crew.  Highly recommend to fans of cozy mysteries.

 Synopsis: 

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.