Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and Sandra Jackson-Opoku for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery soooo much. The Southside Chicago setting was perfect. It showed how even in a metropolitan area, small villages are present! As a Cubs and Bears fan, I found the local details to be painful and accurate. You do have to suspend belief for a while to enjoy this novel- there is a part where the Bears are in the playoffs- and as Bears fans, we just know that isn't our reality. :)

Savvy was exactly that, savvy, quick and the best lie detecting skills (affectionately called her "lie-dar"). Savvy was the perfect character to build this mystery around. I loved the full cast of friends, family and suspects!

This book has convinced me that I need to pick up more cozy mysteries!

Narration was incredibly well done. I would love to listen to this narrator again and again!

Savvy Summers will definitely fill you up with soul food & an overabundance of southern epithets! This cozy mystery was unique in its own way.

I will admit, the pacing was slow for me. I also felt like I wasn't the targeted audience for this book. A lot of the cultural & social references were things I feel my mom (early 60's) would love, get & appreciate. For me, they were things I've (maybe?!..or not) heard of before, but ended up highlighting on my Kindle to get a little more background information, especially if it was meant as a joke. I had to remind myself that Savvy is older and these things reflect on her upbringing, as told throughout the book.

I did enjoy how the location of her shop was located in the heart of Chicago, where people found comfort in food & company. There wouldn't be a mystery to solve without Savvy's loyal customers. As her Aunt Essie says, "You do your best listening at mealtimes, 'cause that's when people do their best talking."

How everything wrapped up in the end wasn't as I expected, since many people were suspects with different ties to each other & stories to tell.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. 🩷

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes oozes charm and Savvy is the spunkiest, mystery solving chef and business owner. Super lovable characters and a well paced mystery, this book kept me engaged from beginning to the end.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

How can a sweet potato pie become the center of a murder investigation!?!
75 year old, womanizer, Grandy Jaspers drops dead at table 2 of Essie’s soul food cafe. Now Savvy must work to clear her name and keep the cafe afloat while she works to solve the murder!
Is the pie really to die for?

What a fun debut! The book is well written and Savvy is such an enjoyable character! This urban, cozy mystery is set in the south side of Chicago with a ton of characters with wit, charm and sweet potato pie! While not your typical sleuth, Savvy has heart, home cooking and snooping assistant manager, Penny!

I really appreciate how the author represented the setting and characters- everything was well thought out and done so with heart! I am absolutely hungry for more of Savvy and her sleuthing ways! I love the added recipes at the end of the book- great touch!

Thank you to author, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, publisher Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I may be biased as I'm from Chicago, and I am near the age of the FMC!
This is a cozy mystery; it is fun and at times, may be a little over the top. But I enjoyed Savy, the humour, references to those places and things special to the Chicago area, and if you are Gen-X, those things that are familiar to our generation.

Follow Savy, along with her friend Penny (who is hilarious!) and ex-husband (Yes, it's complicated), as they try to solve a series of deaths that seem to be murders! This book has an interesting cast of characters (so easy to see the South Side, and Penny's Westside!). This book will have you chuckling!

The story did start slowly, but eventually picks up.
I enjoyed the narration, and the voice fits exactly how I pictured Savvy!
I love that the recipes are included at the end. I would love to have a physical copy of the book just for the recipes!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin press for the advanced audiobook!
Overall 3.75 stars!

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is the first mystery in the Savvy Summers series. Savvy Summers owns Essie’s, a soul food cafe, in Chicagoland. She never expected to become part of a murder investigation, but when a costumer dies in her cafe she’s pulled into the case whether she wants to be or not. In order to clear her name and her cafes reputation Savvy starts looking into the case, unwilling to stop until she gets to the bottom of it.

I am a cozy mystery fan and am glad I got a chance to read this first book in this new series. I enjoyed Savvy and thought she was a great lead. Her background was well built out and she is a great, in-depth character that was so easy to love. I was pulled into this mystery from the beginning and found it easy to get through. The mystery kept me guessing until the end and I enjoyed the ride this book took me on. Overall, this was an enjoyable cozy mystery read and a good start to a promising new series.

I will DEFINITELY be continuing this series. The entire read, I couldn’t stop thinking about a dear friend who makes famous sweet potato cheesecakes and how I couldn’t wait to get him a copy. I love when a book reminds me of someone or someplace and Savvy Summers was all about that. From the Chicago references to all the mouth-watering recipes, this entire experience felt like a warm hug …with a couple murders, obviously.
Miss Savvy is a realistic sleuth. She didn’t put herself in danger or do extraordinarily dumb things to solve the mystery and her reasons were entirely justified as her business and reputation were on the line. And her sidekick(s)! Yes! Penny Lopés killed me and her ex-husband was an unexpectedly sweet and complex surprise. I even enjoyed our local detective and her personality quirks/twists.
4.5 stars rounded up, because, while some of parts may have dragged a tad, it’s an excellent kick-off to a new series!

Sandra Jackson-Opoku's “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” is a charming cozy mystery with a lot of humor and heart. The story follows Savvy Summers, the proud owner of a soul food café located in Chicago's South Side, which becomes the scene of a murder. When a longtime local drops dead at her restaurant while eating Savvy's famous sweet potato pie, Savvy and her assistant café manager get pulled into a whodunit that’s as messy as a kitchen during Sunday dinner.

Savvy is a fantastic leading character. She's smart, witty, and has deep ties to her beloved South Side community. Her assistant manager, Penny, is hilariously nosy and sassy as she digs into the mystery alongside Savvy. Along with the mix of clues, twists, and suspects, you have a bustling, lively neighborhood, a shady investor, and a complicated ex-husband. There is more than enough humor and drama to keep readers engaged to the very end.

Similar to the Finlay Donovan series, the best part of “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” is the relationship and interactions between Savvy and Penny. In true cozy mystery fashion, this book provides laughter, suspense, and some delicious-sounding recipes as a bonus. This lighthearted, feel-good mystery is a perfect summertime read.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I could see how some readers would enjoy it, but it was too outlandish for my taste. There was also way too much detail about cooking and random family members to keep my attention. I was more interested in the mystery, which seemed to be less of a focus than the descriptions of food. If you love cozy mysteries with very little mystery, you might like this, but there just wasn’t enough suspense for me.

Savvy's sweet potato pie didn't kill Grandy but she's determined to find the real villain who has breached the serenity (such as it is) of her cafe. This first installment in a new cozy series set in Chicago introduces many characters but most of all Savvy, who is intrepid but doesn't always make the best decisions. Luckily her ex is a cop and her pal Penny is an eager cohort. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Good atmospherics make this a good read for fans of the genre.

Everyone has secrets, and when a customer drops dead in Essie's and when her sweet potato pie is blamed to begin with, Savvy has to prove it wasn't her soul food at fault. She has to delve into who the suspects are on her list and find out their secrets. Then a second death occurs too identically to the first, her business in her southern Chicago location is barely surviving. Add the pressure of threats to sell her property and law suits for wrongful death, Savvy needs to uncover her suspects secrets to figure out who's behind all of this. Enjoyed this read very much, great fleshed out characters and entertaining story.. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this eARC.

American culture includes many sub-cultures, and most of us are comfortable in our own little niche. It’s fun, however, to learn about other cultures, and anyone who’d like to experience the African American sub-culture, can start by reading a delightful new cozy mystery series, Savvy Summers Mysteries, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku. The first installment in the series is Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, finds Sapphire Summers (known as Savvy to her friends), having problems in her soul food restaurant/catering business due to an old client dying in her restaurant. At first her sweet potato pie was blamed, and then when the autopsy showed he died of a heart attack, something didn’t seem right and it turned out he died of an overdose of Viagra. At that point she became suspicious that the victim was murdered, and started what is sure to be an amateur sleuthing career.

It is recommended that readers listen to this first novel via audio book because the narrator does such an excellent job and makes readers comfortable with the culture. The book, however, is well-written and easy to follow if one is reading it rather than listening to it. Jackson-Upoku does an excellent job of developing her characters, and they are likeable (Savvy and her friends; not some of the low-lives who are trying to ruin her business) and seem real. She also does a good job of making readers hungry with descriptions of Savvy’s soul food delights. Fortunately, there are some recipes included, but certainly not enough.

Even though it is a cozy, there is sexual innuendo and other inferences that differ from basic American culture. They aren’t overdone, however, and the novel is fun and delightful.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I admit that this book started off a bit slow for me. I kept picking it up and putting it back down. However, there came a point where I was all in. I needed to see the secrets and lies that the characters were hiding. Most important of all, I needed to know who the killer was. This was a good debut to this series and I will be reading the next book when it comes out.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this eARC.

This was a fun mystery! All of the characters were so well done, so many fun personalities, and the drama was on point. Lots of twists and turns, and red herrings, I didn’t guess the murderer until the very end. I would definitely read more books by this author!

I had a little bit of a hard time getting into this book. I struggled with how many characters are introduced towards the beginning, and trying to keep them straight took more effort than I’d have liked. However, the further I read, the more I enjoyed all the colorful characters that made up this cast.

The mystery plot was just ok for me; it was interesting, but also took too long in the story to even confirm there was a murder. The time jumps made the pacing feel a bit jagged, and it felt like there were a lot of added details that I could’ve done without. I did like the commentary on Black culture and how the author made it a point to showcase that throughout the book.

If you’re in the mood for a cozy murder mystery, I think you’ll like this! I just don’t think it was for me.

This was a cozy mystery that I enjoyed, but I felt like something was missing. I found the story and characters a little hard to follow, and it felt like the story meandered a little more than I would have liked. Because of this, it was often a little hard for me to stay engaged. The inner monologue of Ms. Savvy felt a little tedious at times. Unfortunately this is not a story that hooked me, but not every book is meant for me!

Thanks to Minotaur and netgalley for the ARC of this book.

This story focused on soul food and community—a blend of the south and Chicago—but it didn’t hook me as a cozy mystery.

The pace felt slow, with a lot of backstory and repetitive speculation. There were several conversations discussing Savvy’s theories but not a lot of on page movement on investigating the specific suspects, finding evidence, etc. New plot details were often discovered off page and revealed in dialogue after the fact, which wasn’t as engaging as when they interviewed a suspect directly or witnessed suspicious behavior in real time.

The humor and tone wasn’t to my tastes. The death of an “old womanizer” in the blurb didn’t clue me in to expect multiple blunt conversations about Viagra and slimy older male characters harassing the females through the entire book. Ick.

There were a lot of characters to keep straight and most were unlikeable—rude, gossiping or squabbling. Savvy, Penny and Fanon had good qualities but the writing style made it hard to connect closely with them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

A fun mystery that’s nothing too serious and all kinds of entertaining with a full and diverse cast. I would LOVE to eat at a cafe like Savvy’s! I have a feeling this is going to be a fun mystery series

Savvy Summers runs a local soul food restaurant and catering business. Drama unfolds on her latest catering event and continues to bring the drama the next day when one of her faithful customers drops dead at her counter. After being accused of poisoning the food, Savvy’s business takes a hit. Even after her name is cleared, the police don’t seem to be doing much so Savvy takes matters into her own hands to find the killer. Along the way, more complications pop up. Will Savvy’s business recover and will she find the killer?
This was a great cozy mystery. The cast of characters including Savvy, her aunt, and Penny kept the story entertaining. If you’re looking for a mystery with humor, then this is your book!

🍰 Cozy Mystery | Ebook | Faith, Food & Foul Play | Rating: ★★★★☆

📖 Synopsis:

Savvy Summers is the kind of woman who can whip up a soul-satisfying meal, drop a scripture in casual conversation, and still clock a lie from across the room. Her café, Savvy Soul, is a staple in her South Side Chicago neighborhood—a place where the food is seasoned, the gossip is spicy, and the community is full of characters with secrets simmering just under the surface.

But when someone turns up dead the morning after eating one of her catered sweet potato pies, the whispers start—and so does the finger-pointing. With her reputation, business, and freedom at stake, Savvy does what any good auntie would: prays first, then handles it herself.

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📖 What I Loved:

Reading this felt like being in the kitchen with your favorite auntie—humming hymns, serving healing food, and solving mysteries without missing a beat. Savvy’s voice is so distinct—faithful, funny, and fiercely protective of her people and her pie. The dialogue snapped with rhythm and culture, and I adored the way the Black community was authentically woven into every page—from the language to the prayer to the kitchen scenes.

There’s even a little glossary at the end full of Black vernacular and author notes that made me smile like I was at the family reunion.

📖 What Gave Me Pause:

The book does lean into repetition when it comes to character motives and background details. Depending on your mood, it might feel redundant or just the right amount of cozy reminder.

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Read If You Like:
• Black auntie protagonists who love the Lord and don’t play
• Cozy crime that centers community and culture
• Soul food, shady neighbors, and slow-boiling secrets
• Mysteries that aren’t too twisty but full of flavor

Bookish Bakes Pairing: Sweet potato pie bars with pecan streusel—layered, sweet, and a little bit messy.

📢 Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.