A lovely little cozy mystery set in a cafe - what's not to like? AND it's set in Chicago!

This book has a good mystery plot, although it does take a while to get into it; a lot of the characters are unlikeable so I needed Savvy and Penny to keep me invested. There is a lot of backstory that isn't immediately relevant to the mystery, but it adds to the "cozy" element. I was - as usual - suspicious of everyone and didn't easily figure out who the Viagra-bandit was.

All-in-all, this is a great poolside read!

3.5 stars rounded up for the clever ending.

I had a difficult time translating some of the language in this book. I think the author called it Black Speak, a combination of deep Southern cant and Chicagoan street slang ...so I'm White and a New Englander, and therefore you can understand some of my ignorance!

Besides the language, I had trouble with a few things in this novel that I don't think anyone else will find problematic. Too many characters, not enough solid explanations for the reason why some things were happening, large skips in the timeline with no explanation, etc.

However, once I just let myself fall into the story, I found myself enjoying it, and it shocked the heck out of me to find out who did it and why! This was not quite a cozy mystery, but it was heart-warming, and I loved the recipes at the back of the book, as well as the explanations of some of Aunt Essie's Epithets.

ARC provided by the publisher Macmillan Publishers/Minotaur Books, the author, and NetGalley.

Savvy Summers owns a cafe in the South Side of Chicago. She was catering an anniversary party and the next day the morning Granderson Jaspers (the husband from the party) comes in and falls dead in her restaurant. Rumors started flying that it was Savvy’s sweet potato pie. Later on it comes out that Grandy was drugged and died from an overdose of viagra. Savvy is trying to find out who did it and how to stop them. People have stopped coming to her cafe. She suspects all kinds of people, even Grandy’s own wife Mattie. This was a fun cozy mystery, but I got a little confused with all the characters and it didn't hold my attention in the beginning. I also didn’t care for the whole viagra plot line, but all in all a good book!

Thank you to Sandra Jackson-Opoku, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: July 29, 2025

Great story set in the Chicagoland area. Essie's goal is to maintain the good name of her soul food cafe . An exepected death of a customer leads to bad publicity and more.

I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. Definately worth reading!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Sandra Jackson-Opoku for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review💚

I enjoyed this trip with Savvy as she solved the predicaments in front of her. Jackson-Opoku has a way of world building and storytelling that really pulls you in and grabs your attention for the long hall. As the lore of this cast of characters unfolded, I found myself getting more invested in their lives and how this would all come together.

The mystery portion of this book is solid; theories are put out, investigated, and explained thoroughly and thoughtfully. There are also lots of tidbits/Chekhov’s guns (one of my favorite elements of a mystery) throughout the book that are dropped and followed up with great timing and relevance, pulling motives and explanations together in a satisfying manner.

The narrative weaved about the characters outside of the mystery was even more intriguing. I learned so much about everyone and it felt necessary that I learned this information instead of fluff to fill space. While some of the things about the main characters weren’t fully fleshed out, it was obvious that the information was foundational and will be addressed at a later date.

I do wish it didn’t take as long as it did to solve the mystery, as I felt there were moments that didn’t need to be as drawn out as they were. While it is great for creating a fully fleshed out narrative, it sometimes gets in the way of pulling together clues and piecing together the mystery.

I’m not the biggest reader of cozy mysteries, but I am very interested to see what Savvy and her crew get into next!

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

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

A charming cozy mystery with Southern flair, steady pacing, and a satisfying conclusion—even if the emotional stakes fall short.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes delivers what it promises: a cozy whodunit centered around a Southern-raised chef navigating a murder mystery tied to her restaurant. The pacing is smooth throughout, and the setting—while technically Chicago—feels much more like a small Southern town due to the cultural voice and vivid inclusion of euphemisms and sayings from Savvy’s great-aunt Essie. This thread of Southern wisdom is one of the book’s most engaging elements.

However, the book does suffer from a lack of emotional and narrative depth. Savvy’s motivations for solving the first crime felt thin at best, although a second crime later in the story helped anchor her involvement more convincingly. Subplots are sparse, and outside of solving the murder and keeping her restaurant afloat, Savvy doesn’t have much going on—which limits emotional investment.

The twists, while present, are predictable. I correctly guessed the resolution fairly early, which took some punch out of the final act. Still, the book wraps up cleanly and delivers the closure cozy mystery readers expect. Red herrings and clue placement were adequate, though not particularly clever.

This is a straightforward mystery—nothing groundbreaking, but solidly executed for its genre. Readers looking for something light and engaging will enjoy it, especially those who appreciate stories infused with cultural identity and familial wisdom.

Now this was a funny mystery! Essie and the character’s charm grabbed my attention from the first chapter. The plot is full of twists and turns, and I could not figure this story out right away! Unlike many mysteries where you can figure things out too quickly, this one kept me guessing

Thank you Netgalley, and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the ARC and opportunity to provide an honest review.

This was a fun cozy mystery debut with lots of food and cooking references which I really enjoyed. I loved the humor mixed with mystery, and the internal dialogue of the main character was so fun. Lots of culture and charm in these pages, and I hope there will be more to come from Savvy and friends.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A nice cozy checking off all the boxes, homey atmosphere, quirky characters, lots of suspects, an overhanging menace, a hint of romance, good food, and tight friendships. I'd give this novel two thumbs up if one of my hands wasn't busy eating the pie it inspired.

This was a tough one for me. I like mysteries, but there were a lot of characters, and they were all important and interwoven into the book and with one another, and it was hard to keep track with all the names, especially with the POV being first person, and the FMC narrating like we were supposed to know everyone as well as she did.

The pop culture references went right over my head as someone not alive during the 80s, and who doesn't understand micro references.

I did enjoy the cultural references, the soul and funk the tone of the story carried, and the ending being a nice refreshing change from what I'm used to in murder mysteries, however.

I like Savvy as a fresh new character in cozy mystery! She's confident in her own skin and ain't afraid to tell you like it is. I did feel some parts of the story could be wrapped up a little tighter. I look forward to more in this new series! 3.5 stars.

This is the author’s debut mystery. It is an entertaining cozy mystery with an urban setting. Death by Viagra as a murder mystery was new to me. The best part of the story are Savvy’s inner thoughts and the expressions of Great Aunt Essie. (The author kindly left a glossary of expressions at the end of the book). The story had a diverse cast of characters with a lot of amateur sleuthing. My favorite Aunt Essie expression, all good cooking must have “a pinch of bacon grease and a pound of love.” The story was a bit drawn out and some of the scenes felt repetitive. Overall, it was a quick and cozy mystery.

A new cozy mystery set in Chicago. Overall a good time 3.75 stars
Pros: The mystery was really good and unexpected. People who are familiar with Chicago will be able to appreciate the descriptions of the city’s locations. The main characters are black and there are a lot of references to black culture and sayings. There are also many references to older pop culture that people who were alive in the 80’s would appreciate.
Cons: There were a lot of characters. If a person is not familiar with Chicago then those aspects of the book will go over their heads. There was too much going on with the writing like flashback scenes and background information about the character’s past that didn’t really relate to the present story. This could have been explored in future books in the series. The references to older pop culture would be wasted on people born in the 90’s or later because they were just dropped like little nuggets. Some of the references to black culture were unfamiliar and then they were explained to the reader but it was kind of unnecessary. Some of the length of the book could have been reduced by taking some of this out.

Sapphire Summers (aka Savvy) is the entrepreneur/chef of a soul food restaurant in Chicago. She was raised by her Great Aunt Essie who moved to Chicago from Mississippi via Memphis. It is clear Essie ruled with an iron hand but a heart full of love. She folded that love into her cooking which she shared with Savvy. Savvy has a successful restaurant but its location is eyed by some scrupulous types. And that's not the only thing people are jealous of Savvy; her sweet potato pie is the envy of many. But it is also plays a key role in the suspicious death of a local ... character - and right at the restaurant. And that's not the only death. Savvy gets involved in trying to solve the murders and in doing so, the plot takes some delicious twists and turns. Ms. Jackson-Opoku, well done!

This was a fun cozy mystery! I enjoyed the story and the characters. It was a quick, good read. Looking forward to more from this author!

Savvy Summers is the owner of Essie's which is famous for its sweet potato pie. When 75-year-old
Grandy Jaspers, drops dead at table two. The café is closed down as the police test the food and
kitchen. To save the café, Savvy, aided by her employee Penny, investigates who had reason to kill
Grandy. Interesting characters and entertaining murder mystery - good start to a new series.
#SavvySummersandtheSweetPotatoCrimes #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks #NetGalley

This book is sweet, sassy, funny, and full of heart. It is hard to put down this delicious mystery filled with interesting, well-drawn characters. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. I received a complimentary copy of this book and chose to write a voluntary, unbiased review.

I do not think that I was the target audience for this book! The prose felt messy and I DNF’d pretty early on. I am sure that there will be readers that absolutely love this style of writing, I just found it distracting to me. Full of slang and characters right off the bat to the point where I struggled to keep up.