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.

This was a fun mystery following Savvy, a cafe owner, who is involved with amateur sleuthing. I thought the pacing wasn't great, but the mystery component was fun and unique. There were a little too many characters for me to keep track of. I think this has a lot of potential in future books to be a great series.

Savvy Summers is a soul food cafe owner and caterer in Chicago, and she’s famous for her sweet potato pie. Both the pie’s popularity and the cafe’s business are in trouble Grandy Jaspers drops dead at table two after eating a sample of her new vegan pie recipe.

As someone who loves to cook, I’m always interested in the caterer/baker turned detective trope. I didn’t feel any connection to Savvy (or any of the book’s other eccentric characters) though. In the end I found myself rushing through the last few chapters just to find out who did it and finish the book. I did save the vegan pie recipe to try later though!

a debut mystery about Savvy Summer who owns soul food cafe in Chicago. if you like cozy mysteries, you will love this story.

This book was just okay. I had a hard time getting into this and I was confused following who was who.

I loved this! A great new cozy to add to your to-be-read pile, this is guaranteed to leave you hungry for more!

This book was alright. The storyline was cute and I liked that the recipes were included in the end. I loved Penny and I definitely need a friend like her. My biggest critique is that it didn’t flow as well as I would’ve liked. The plot kind of dragged out and then the book rapidly ended with random surprises thrown in. I wanted to see at least a little resolution with Fanon and Savvy. It wasn’t bad, I was invested, but I just needed it to be a bit more cohesive.

This is a good mystery with nice detective work. It was funny and it had great banter. It's worth a read if you love food and mysteries.
​Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A cozy mystery featuring a could-be retired teacher who runs a soul food restaurant on the Southside of Chicago? Sign me up! Sapphire Summers(Savvy to her friends & family) is happy dishing up her “old school meets new school” cuisine . Heavy on the soul & taste, light on the bacon grease & artery clogging parts.She’s working on becoming the “go to” spot her regulars know & love, as well as serving her award-winning sweet potato pie that’s “to die for”. When one of her regulars meets his end in booth number 2, she wants to make sure everyone knows that it wasn’t her pie,, but the little blue pills he was taking that did him in.. When another regular dies in a similar fashion, Savvy, her nosy, bestie Penny , and her cop ex-husband Fanon must find out what’s really going on in her up and coming neighborhood before she goes to jail , her restaurant closes, or someone else falls to the same fate. There’s a long list of suspects, but will they figure out who’s behind these deaths before it’s too late?As an expatriate of Chicago, I did enjoy reading about the city I love, although, I will NOT be calling Lake Shore Drive “DuSable LSD, and the Cubs colors are orange, blue & white. (Sox fans wear black, silver & white-IYKYK). If this is the first in a series, I’ll definitely be back to see what Savvy & her crew get into next

This was a sweet, cozy mystery with some laughs. Savvy's saying made me smile like "Bless their naked souls." The characters are well written, with a plot that is engaging. The author did a good job in expressing the culture of Chicago and the people within it. The reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that this book seemed to me a little long, and the talk of food and other background stories seemed to be considered filler. Savvy has a habit of calling people that she is very familiar with by their first and last names, which I don't know if that's something Southern or something else. If you aren't familiar with black English, you might have a hard time with this book. Overall, I liked this book. I enjoyed the mystery and the way Savvy gets to her sleuthing and finds the answers she is looking for.

Thanks to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for this advanced reader copy. My opinion is my own. The expected release date is July 29, 2025.