⁕ Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes ⁕
𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠
★ ★ ★ 3.75/𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

Entertaining and cozy mystery set in old Chicago South Side. Savvy Summers is an interesting character that brought alot of life to the story.
The plot was great though i feel it could have been a little bit more. Overall this book was great! I gave it a 4 stars. It was a good cozy murder mystery that will keep you guessing up until the very end!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Minotaur books for the advanced copy!

I love cozy mysteries that involve food, so, while I’m not a fan of sweet potatoes in any way, shape, or form, I couldn’t pass up Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes. It sounded like a lot of fun, too, especially with an elderly womanizer who ends up dying in Savvy’s soul food cafe. While this mystery moved along a little too slowly for my tastes, moving from before Thanksgiving right up to Christmas, I did love the twists and turns and all the smaller questions and mysteries. The characters, too, were a ton of fun, and I loved Savvy’s dedication to creating the perfect vegan sweet potato pie.

After retiring from a career in education, Savvy opened a soul food cafe on the south side of Chicago, but an investor has been trying and trying to get her to sell so the whole area can be developed and gentrified. Savvy, of course, holds fast to Essie’s, happily serving her regulars and catering when the jobs come in. The novel opens with Savvy catering the 50th anniversary party for Grandy and Mattie Jespers, where Mattie makes a surprise announcement, leaving her womanizing husband out in the cold. But it puts Savvy and her cafe in quite a spot when Grandy ends up suddenly dying at table two the following morning. Even after being cleared, patrons are reluctant to rush back, so Savvy is determined to protect her cafe from dying by investigating Grandy’s death with the help of her assistant Penny and ex-husband Officer Fanon Franklin, especially when someone else mysteriously dies in her cafe.

Savvy Summers is quite a force. She’s largely no-nonsense, but really cares about her regulars and those she loves. It hasn’t been easy for her since her second husband passed away the previous year, but her first husband still looks after her now and then. I loved her determination to solve the murders of two black men, especially when the police were more interested in just labeling them accidents. She loves her community, and is suitably nosey without crossing too many lines. I really liked her and the fine lines she always walked. Even better, she’s an older amateur detective, and I really liked the level of caution that accompanied her investigation.

But no amateur detective in a cozy mystery really works alone. Savvy had her assistant Penny and her first husband Fanon by her side, as well as a bit of a surprising character towards the end. I adored Penny. She’s younger and has quite a feisty side. She was a perfect foil to Savvy, being more daring where Savvy was cautious, which came in useful as solving a mystery can’t just involve caution or throwing it to the wind. She has a big personality, and proved to be a lot of fun to read about. Fanon was fantastic, too, even if he was sometimes a little too overprotective and clearly not as over their long-dead marriage as Savvy was. But he was a huge help, and I really liked how he always ended up going along with her plans.

The mystery itself was nice and twisty. There is a large pool of suspects, and I enjoyed Savvy’s investigations into all of them. She also came up with some fun methods of getting information to cross them out. But the really fun part was all the secrets that were revealed. There are layers upon layers, and it was a lot of fun to peel them back, to get a bigger picture view of these characters and what really happened. I did find the time dragged on and on, whisking me through Thanksgiving and Christmas and a pie contest where Savvy almost always came out a winner in one of the categories, much to the displeasure of one of her long-time competitors. It seemed there was more life happening than mystery solving, but, when Savvy was focused on the mystery, I found the story to be compelling, almost as addictive as her sweet potato pie was to her customers.

Set on the south side of Chicago, a place I’ve never been, this mystery really drops the reader into the Black community and Black culture. I couldn’t say I really got a strong sense of Chicago as I’ve never been, but I really liked how the story still felt anchored somewhere. I tend to think that was largely because of the strength of the culture and language. I’m no more familiar with Black English than I am with Chicago, so sometimes it felt a little like I was reading another language. It was helpful when the characters offered tidbits to help translate, but, other times, I felt a little out to sea. It was fantastic, though, how well-woven the language and culture were without being alienating to a reader unfamiliar with both. Savvy moved well between both worlds, deftly helping the reader navigate.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is a wonderful introduction to a new culinary cozy mystery. While I sometimes felt a language and culture barrier, I also felt Savvy was almost like a kind grandmother, holding out her hand and inviting me in while quietly explaining everything to me. I loved how twisty the mystery was, and all the secrets just added so many fun layers that managed to connect all the threads together. Savvy is a fantastic protagonist to follow, and Penny and Fanon are wonderful additions to her mystery-solving team. I look forward to seeing what the next installment will throw at them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

On Chicago’s South Side, sharp-witted café owner Savvy Summers dishes out humor and mysterious charm.
For readers who savor neighborhood spirit.

First, thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, for this arc. Unfortunately, I struggled to get through this read. There were a lot of side characters to keep up with. However, I did enjoy the story as it unfolded. It was a good cozy mystery novel. I want to see what the writer does next.

I wanted to like this book more, but really struggled with keeping track of the relationships. While there are definitely communities with these connections and relationships, it was difficult at times to keep everyone straight. That made it difficult for me to stay involved in the book and the plot.

I really enjoyed this book; it was easy to read and kept me engaged in the storyline. I didn't figure -Who Did It at all and was surprised at the end. This was the perfect cozy mystery read for the Fall, and I recommend you definitely pick it up to add to your TBR. I will be looking for more books by this author to read.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery! It took me a little while to get into the story—some of the early pacing felt slow—but once things picked up, I was hooked. What truly made this book stand out was its vibrant celebration of Black voices and culture. Savvy is a smart, funny, and relatable protagonist, and I loved how the story wove in community, food, and history with such warmth and authenticity.

The mystery itself was clever and satisfying, with enough twists to keep me guessing, but never so dark that it lost the cozy charm. If you're a fan of small-town sleuths and cultural richness, this is a great read. I’m definitely looking forward to more in the series!

Savvy Summers owns Essie’s, a neighborhood soul food cafe with a menu based on traditional family recipes passed down by her Great-Aunt Essie and a few from her Nana. The cafe has become a hub in the community, and her award-winning sweet potato pie keeps people coming back for more.

But when one of her regular diners dies after enjoying a slice, Savvy suddenly finds herself under the microscope of the police and her community. This scrutiny, combined with relentless pressure to sell her business, pushes Savvy to get to the bottom of the suspicious death fast if she wants to save her reputation and business. She convinces her ex-husband, a police officer and his former partner to help. (Will we see a little rekindling in the next books in the series?)

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is a fun read, but look a little below the surface. You’ll see that the story touches on the impact gentrification and development have on long-standing small businesses & local communities that support them. This is not surprising considering author Sandra Jackson-Opoku's extensive and award-winning writing about Black communities and culture. Her work encompasses many genres, but this is her first venture into cozy mysteries. She is a lifelong mystery reader and decided to try her hand. (This is the kind of fun stuff you learn when you read the acknowledgements.)

This is the first in her Savvy Summers series, and I’m looking forward to more. Thank you to St. Martin's Press / Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.

Anyone who enjoys finding a new author, will want to give this title a look. It will appeal to those who enjoy both food and traditional mysteries-what could be better?

This mystery has a great cast of characters, of course, including Savvy. I very much hope that there will be more books to follow.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Minotaur Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Savvy Summers is a witty, no-nonsense soul food queen just trying to protect her café’s reputation… until a local womanizer drops dead after eating her famous sweet potato pie. With rumors flying and business tanking, Savvy and her nosy sidekick Penny become amateur sleuths on a mission to clear their name—and their menu.

This debut has charm, community drama, and a whole lot of pie 🥧. The mystery was light, the pacing a little uneven (was a little boring) at times, but Savvy’s voice? Unforgettable. I’d read another just to hang out at Essie’s again.

This was an enjoyable debut by Sandra Jackson-Opoku!

If you like cozy mysteries and have read the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries series by Mia. P. Manansalayou will probably enjoy this! I always enjoy Chicago representation, this one representing south side.

I loved the recipes and sayings at the end! It was a nice addition to the story as well.

Don’t read this book if you’re hungry!!! Set in Chicago, this fun, cozy mystery will keep you guessing. Lots of fun, quirky characters- it took a while to figure them all out, but it all eventually makes sense. Who would have thought a murder mystery would revolve around a sweet potato pie? A great debut and looking forward to a sequel!

I unfortunately DNFed this book at 25%. It was very cute, but the mystery was moving a little too slow for me. I hope it finds its target audience and I'm sad I was not it.

A slow starter with too many characters,, but I really enjoyed the story as it evolved. Savvy Summers is holding her cafe together by a thread. When one of her customers dies at his anniversary party, she knows she is in for a rocky ride. An unscrupulous developer has been pressuring her to sell but she refuses putting her in the crosshairs of people who want her land. A clever, entertaining novel with relatable characters.

3.5! This was cute but not especially memorable. I feel like there were certain sayings that the characters used constantly which made it feel like animated characters using catchphrases. But I enjoyed the mystery!

With our female protagonist, Savvy Summers, being close to my age, I had a hunch that I would thoroughly enjoy this book. This is the first in a new cozy mystery series and it is a true delight. Amateur detective. Soul food. And my favorite, sweet potato pie. I literally could not wait to dive into this book.

When one of Savvy’s customers, Grandy Jaspers, drops dead after having a slice of one of her famous sweet potato pies, Savvy immediately decides to get to the bottom of this. Even though the police have ruled Grandy’s death as accidental, this was just not enough for Savvy. She knows without a shadow of a doubt that her pies were not responsible for his death. She needs to clear her restaurant’s name. Her name. And, of course, find justice for Grandy.

Sandra Jackson-Opoku is a new author to me, and this was the perfect book for me to become familiar with her writing style. I loved her character development and the intricate plot. It is a fun story, with our diehard amateur detective, Savvy. I love her no-nonsense approach. The banter and soul food (So missed that I pulled out a soul food cookbook I have had since I got married.) blend together to deliver a solid read, one that will no doubt draw many back to further books in the series.

Not only is Savvy a fun and delightful character, her best friend Penny is as well. They are the perfect team when it comes to discovering who was responsible for Grandy’s death. I loved the guessing game laid out to readers, allowing me to follow the clues that Savvy and Penny were unveiling. This engaging read will be continued in July, 2026, with Savvy Summers and the Po’Boy Perils. No doubt it will be just as hilarious and intriguing as this first book.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book. It was a fun read and I actually did not know who did it. I didn't guess before the reveal which makes this a very good book. I liked Savvy a lot and everyone around her. This cast of characters were fun and I truly cannot wait to read another book in this series. I can't wait to see what's next!

Set in Chicago’s vibrant South Side, this cozy mystery introduces Savvy Summers, the sharp-tongued owner of Essie’s Soulfood Café, whose famous sweet potato pie becomes the center of a murder investigation. With her loyal assistant Penny Lopés and a cast of colorful neighbors, she dives into the mystery with grit, wit, and a whole lot of soul. Savvy won't stop until the murder mystery is solved and her restaurant's reputation is restored. This novel is a good pick for readers who like a light hearted read with a lot of humor and drama mixed with a bit of mystery.

Who would have known that a sweet potato pie would be at the center of so much drama! I had such a good time diving into this story and as a chicagoan it was cool to be able to know first had the scenery that was being described. I can definitely see these characters blending right in with my favorite city. The mystery was engaging and I truly did not know who was behind it all and how till right when it happened. I loved the setting of Savvy being a restaurant owner and sympathized with her fight to keep her restaurant open when so many people were praying on her downfall. Everything about this book was everything I look for in a cozy mystery. I truly hope there is another installment of this book in the future!

It took me a little while to get into but, loved the cozy murder mystery vibes of this book. The story kept me really entertained throughout the whole book.
The characters are very well developed and I loved Savvy's character, she was strong and independent.