Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes

A Mystery

De: Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Narrado por: Karen Chilton

A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café.

When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food café, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie's reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area.

Even as the police deem Grandy’s death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself—and her beloved café—in the middle of an entire city’s worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager, Penny Lopés, take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy.

But with a slimy investor harassing her to sell her name and business, customers avoiding her sweet potato pie like the plague, and her police sergeant ex-husband suddenly back in the picture, will Savvy be able to clear the café’s name and solve Grandy’s murder before it all falls apart?

After all, while Savvy always said her sweet potato pie was to die for, she never meant literally.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2025 Sandra Jackson-Opoku (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Novelist Jackson-Opoku makes her move to mystery with great flair and finesse, serving up a tasty combination of soul food comfort dishes that culinary mystery fans will crave, as well as a vividly evoked setting populated by an engaging community of characters about whom readers will come to care."—Library Journal (starred review)

"A charming mystery filled with quirky characters whose Southern roots influence their daily lives."—Kirkus Reviews

"Unforgettable... An entertaining, suspense-fueled crime drama."—Shelf Awareness

Refreshing

I could not put it down. It’s been a long time since a mystery has kept me engaged from page one. Hopefully we will get a second book.

Engaging!

This story made me feel connected to my southern roots. The cooking, Aunt Essies sayings, the sassy attitudes...all remind me of relatives who have passed on.

This mystery was an unexpected pleasure. The narrator was phenomenal! She really pulled the listener in!❤️

Excellent listen!

Great Book

I enjoyed this story that had the right amount of mystery, African-American Culture, and comedy

Starts slow, but it’s good!!

This was a very good story. I like the thoughts that it promotes. I wasn’t a high fan of the narrators. I thought her voice was too dry for a suspense story and all the characters sound the same.. BUT… it didn’t take away from me listening to the story because it had a good story line. I would recommend this story.

It's about time!!!

I really enjoyed this book.... it's full of culture, comedy, a little surprise and a good ol time.

I need more!

I really enjoyed listening and I could visualize every character. I can’t wait for the additional books in the series.

“Lord have mercy on their naked souls” 👏🏾📚

I absolutely LOVED this book, I have such a great appreciation for African American mystery novels and I have been a fan since I found my first Valerie Wilson Wesley novel in my local public library nearly 20+ years ago. This novel has brought me the same joy and appreciation for storytelling that VWW did so long ago.

This novel was like a warm hug and a good laugh/conversation with your favorite auntie. I knew after the first lines of chapter one this would not be your average “cozy mystery”. The authenticity, the humor, the old school phrases, the layered characters all merged together to make such a fantastic novel. This felt like a community I’ve known for ages and the story was as interesting as it was humorous.

I stayed up late to finish the audiobook version and I am eager for the physical copy to arrive. I plan to listen again tomorrow and Karen Chilton did a phenomenal job conveying the wisdom and thoughts of Savvy Summers and her crew.

I love the inclusion of Aunt Essie’s Epithets at the end just to teach the young folks the phrases of our elders.

It has been such a treat to read this novel and I am desperate for the second book in the series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Certified Read

The storyline

This audio book was engaging from the start. I enjoyed hearing the character's background and found myself engaging 'out loud' with the dialogue.
This book was a pleasant surprise!

Great characters and plot twists!

Sweet potato crimes was a refreshing murder mystery with delicious foods and wonderful southern wiseisms that my mom and aunts often used. The characters were very rich and some even funny. Reading this books I felt like I could see each person on the big screen! I will definitely read more books by the author.

Murder She Wrote but in Chicago

I enjoyed everything about this story. The characters were interesting the mystery was really well done and not absurdly obvious, it kept me guessing a good amount!

ends with recipes!