Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is hopefully the start of a new restaurant mystery series. Savvy is our likeable protagonist who leads us through a complicated mystery to a satisfying resolution. Along the way we encounter a number of interesting characters, possible solutions and mouth-watering food.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson - Opoku.


Savvy owns a delicious restaurant and catering company. When two different men die “eating” her sweet potato pie at two different occasions she puts her detective skills to work to find out what is really going on.

Savvy inherits her aunts southern restaurant and is trying to make a go of it. A developer wants to buy the shop and she is one of two holdouts on the block. She keeps telling him no and then the deaths occur. The first one was a philandering husband who had celebrated his 50th anniversary the night before. He came into the restaurant for breakfast and ended up dying from a Viagra overdose. People said it was due to Savvy's award-winning sweet potato pie. But then another person dies from a Viagra overdose. The police don't see the deaths as homicides so Savvy with the help of her employee and her ex-husband start to investigate.

An entertaining, cozy mystery. There were some slow parts, but I thought there was a good balance of characters (albeit a lot of them) and the story has a satisfying - and plausible - ending.

The description of this book is also accurate, which I always appreciate.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

This mystery book was certainly entertaining. I enjoyed reading Savvy’s descriptive thoughts on everyone around her. There’s so much warmth and camaraderie in this book based on Chicago’s South Side.

Savvy, who owns her own Southern cooking inspired restaurant, turns up her investigative skills when a long-time patron dies during breakfast. Hilarity ensues when she tries to piece together the mystery. Throw an ex-husband and interesting side characters into the mix and it’s quite the story!

A delicious mystery debut!

I really wanted to love this one but I think there are a lot of other authors doing very similar things in a better way.

Savvy Summers is a cozy murder mystery following a black, 50 something cafe owner figuring out who poisoned her patron in her own cafe. Honestly I struggled with this. There were so many characters with most of them being rather unlikable. It was hard to keep track of. Savvy herself is fine, but does a rather poor job of figuring out who the killer is. It feels like nothing is happening and I never felt like we were actually close to figuring out what was going on. The ending was fine, but I was missing the detecting and solving of the mystery

This is the first book Imhabe read in this series.
I recommend reading the series in order to
not miss out on the background.. This is
a fun story with quirky characters and delicious
recipes, and the story wraps itself up nicely.!
My thanks to St Martin’s Press for the download
copy of the book dor review purposes..

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (out July 29, 2025) is a charming debut, filled with mystery, humor, and soul food. When Savvy Summers' popular café is suddenly at the center of a murder investigation after a customer, Grandy Jaspers, dies at one of her tables, Savvy’s life turns upside down. Though the police rule it an accident, Savvy faces a flood of bad press and a desperate need to clear her name. With the help of her assistant, Penny, Savvy embarks on a mission to uncover the real culprit behind Grandy’s death. Meanwhile, she’s dealing with a shady investor, a drop in business, and the return of her ex-husband, a police sergeant. Will Savvy save her café and solve the crime before everything falls apart?
I thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance in exchange for my honest opinion.

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (out July 29, 2025) marks an interesting debut, though not one that entirely captures your attention from start to finish. The novel follows Savvy Summers, who runs a soul food café in Chicago. Her life takes an unexpected turn when a local man dies suddenly at one of her café tables, and her famous sweet potato pie is dragged into a murder investigation.
Despite the police deeming the death an accident, the incident sparks a wave of negative press, putting Savvy's business in jeopardy. With the help of her assistant manager Penny, Savvy decides to investigate further to clear her name. In the process, she must also deal with a persistent investor, wary customers avoiding her pie, and her ex-husband, a police sergeant, reappearing just when things get complicated.
The premise of a cozy mystery with some lighthearted humor has potential, and while the quirky characters like Penny add charm to the story, I found the pacing a little slow at times. The mystery itself is engaging but doesn’t feel quite as gripping as it could have been. There are moments of fun, but overall, the book didn’t fully draw me in.
Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the chance to read this book in advance in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book!

In this captivating and cozy mystery read, Jackson-Opoku draws readers into a suspenseful world filled with secrets where everyone is a suspect! A web of dangerous secrets and morally ambiguous choices will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Jackson-Opoku skillfully crafts a cast of characters that embodies the duality of human nature, with ulterior motives often expertly masked. The interplay between desperation and ambition drives the plot forward, inviting readers to explore themes of trust, deception, and the lengths one will go for a chance at keeping secrets hidden. This book is perfect for fans of cozy mysteries, underdog protagonists, and female main characters with everything to lose and everything to give!

I thought the story a little slow and too many characters. The story was interesting and I liked Savvy but I just couldn’t seem to get into it.

Overall this is a good, cozy mystery with some wonderful characters and fun banter amongst them; Savvy being my favorite. I enjoyed the plot and thought it moved along at a good pace.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Savvy Summers And The Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson Opoku, savvy is a 57 year-old widow who owns a soul food catering company and restaurant. With her assistant sous chef penny la paste who’s also a whirl class gossiper brings a lot of of the lol moments to this cozy murder mystery. when Granderson Jaspers falls dead in her dining room savvy is sad but then when rumors start going around that it was her sweet potato pie that killed him, she ignores it at first, but when it starts causing her problems she desperately wants to clear her name. just went Sally starts to think Alderman Delbert daily is a good suspect he too dies at this time instead of eating the sweet potato pie he gets hit in the face by it it isn’t the pies that are killing these older men. Can savvy solve the murder and get her business back on track? I have been becoming a huge fan of cozy mysteries and this one to me was just OK. I was super excited to read it but thought the book had no ambience to it and being someone who is raised in the deep south around a family like the Jasper’s I didn’t feel any real connection to them nor did the narrative provoke any “oh yes that seems familiar“ type situations I also have never heard the term bless their naked souls and I am not saying I’m an expert on things everyone in the world says but when it comes to colloquialisms I just have never heard that. not only that she cooks vegetarian soul food and she has a policeman who is a connoisseur of tea and maybe it is mixing the familiar up with the new and strange that jarred me away from truly enjoying this book because I really did like savvy and Penny but there were too many things that had me thinking it just didn’t seem like a credible group of people IDK.#NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonostReview, #SandraJacksonOpoku, #SavvySummersAndTheSweetPotatoCrimes,

A fantastic set of characters and setting. The plot is interesting and everyone is a little unhinged. Perfect for cozy mystery fans.

Savvy Summers has to solve a man's murder. After dying in her soul food cafe, Grandy Jaspers a womanizer is going to run her business into the ground from the grave. But who did it? A disgruntled wife or the mistress? The sleezy local politician or real estate mogul? Savvy herself or any of the other Chi town locals?

3.75/5

Thank you to #NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Death by Viagra. Grandy was a horn dog all of his days, but his wife of fifty years still loves him and needs help to convince the police that she did not do murder. Lots of family drama, situational humor, and lively characters in this excellent Black Chicago cozy mystery debut.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from the St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Paperbacks via NetGalley. Pub Date Jul 29 2025
#SavvySummersAndTheSweetPotatoCrimes by @sjacksonopoku @stmartinspress @minotaur_books
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I love cozy mysteries and while I don't read them enough I do get a kick out of them when I do! This one is a great start to a new series. Solid characters that I can't wait to grow with and a murder mystery that had me stumped!

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story follows Savvy Summers as she runs her own cafe and catering company, a man dies in her cafe quickly after eating her sweet potato pie. This draws Savvy into solving the real cause of his death since it affects her business’s reputation.

Unfortunately this story failed to grasp my attention and up until about 50-60% of the story the narration keep jumping timelines to give background to new characters, it made it hard to care about the actual plot of the mystery since it kept pulling us out of the current timeline. It is only about 80% into the story the deaths are officially ruled murder and at that point there were too many characters that it was hard to keep up with who the actual murderer could be and why, then resolution just felt rushed.

I really wanted to love this one—I was excited to try a new-to-me author and the premise sounded fun and fresh. Savy Summers was definitely the highlight for me. I loved her quick wit and no-nonsense attitude, and she really carried the story. That said, I did struggle with the book overall. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and between the nicknames and detailed descriptions, I found myself getting lost at times. The writing felt a bit heavy in places, which made it harder to stay focused. Still, I think there’s a lot of potential here, and I’d be open to giving the author another try. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an early copy.

While Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes was not for me, for the right reader it might be fun. I was drawn to the setting, the South Side of Chicago and I love a culinary focus. I found the vernacular distracting, Snappy repartee can move a story forward but it's not for me. While I liked Savvy there were an awful lot of unlikable characters. I think I like my cozy mysteries a little cozier.