Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Cr..., Sandra JacksonOpoku
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Cr..., Sandra JacksonOpoku
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Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
A Mystery

Author: Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Series: Savvy Summers Mysteries #1

Narrator: Karen Chilton

Unabridged: 9 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/29/2025


Synopsis

“Listeners will be entertained by narrator Karen Chilton's performance of this deliciously devious novel set at Essie's Soul Food Cafe on the South Side of Chicago.”—AudioFile

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.

About Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Sandra Jackson-Opoku is the author of the award-winning novel, The River Where Blood is Born and Hot Johnny and the Women Who Loved Him, an Essence Magazine Bestseller in Hardcover Fiction. She also coedited the anthology Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks. Her fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works are widely published and produced in Adi Magazine, Midnight & Indigo, Aunt Chloe, Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, New Daughters of Africa, Obsidian, Another Chicago Magazine, storySouth, Lifeline Theatre, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and others. Professional recognition includes a Plentitudes Journal Prize, the Hearst Foundation James Baldwin Fellowship at MacDowell Arts, a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Fellowship, an American Library Association Black Caucus Award, a City of Chicago Esteemed Artist Award, the Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award, a Globe Soup Story Award, the Joan Perry Barnes Fellow in Crime Writing at Storyknife Writers Retreat and a Pushcart Prize nomination.

About Karen Chilton

Karen Chilton is a multi-talented author, actor, and audiobook narrator, as well as a freelance writer, script writer, and librettist. She wrote the biography Hazel Scott about the trailblazing jazz pianist and coauthored I Wish You Love with legendary jazz vocalist Gloria Lynne. Her acting credits include It's Kind of a Funny Story and Half Nelson. She won a New Professional Theatre Writers award for her play Convergence and an Audiofile Golden Earphones Award for her narration of Karolyn Smardz Frost's I've Got a Home in Glory Land. She has also narrated Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and Jennifer Berry Hawes' Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura on June 24, 2025

This was a charming, cozy murder mystery. The characters are very well developed and likeable. I always love a strong and independent female lead, especially one with a great sense of humor. You won't regret this book!! Thank you to Net Galley and St Martin's Press for allowing me to read this ARC in......more

Goodreads review by Manon (mysterymanon) on July 15, 2025

What a treat to be introduced to Savvy Summers! I adored this soul food chef-turned-sleuth—first, because of her personality, and second, because she is a great cozy sleuth. I love a cozy that pushes the boundaries, and this one has plenty of humor, sass, and juicy gossip that makes it stand out. Th......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on January 10, 2025

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku is a great cozy mystery that kept me entertained throughout. I really liked this debut. Savvy is a solid main character and held her own in this culinary cozy mystery. I liked the backdrop, the concept, and the murder/mystery. I am not......more

Goodreads review by Bbecca_marie on July 20, 2025

Audiobook/Book Review 📖🔪🥧 Thank you so much partner @minotaur_books @macmillian.audio for the gifted copy and audiobook! Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku Narrated by Karen Chilton About the book 👇🏽 When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food café, she never expected......more

Goodreads review by Dianne on June 14, 2025

3.5 stars rounded up for the clever ending. I had a difficult time translating some of the language in this book. I think the author called it Black Speak, a combination of deep Southern cant and Chicagoan street slang ...so I'm White and a New Englander, and therefore you can understand some of my i......more


Quotes

"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

"Feisty, well-drawn Savvy is a hero for fans of strong Black women protagonists, and the food frame, the lovingly described Chicago setting, and the delicious-sounding recipes will appeal to those who enjoy food-centered cozies." —Booklist

"Jackson-Opoku's debut cozy crime novel has charm, cadence, and culture." —Raquel V. Reyes, Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series

"Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is a delightful debut filled with unforgettable characters, witty dialogue and unexpected twists. This loving tribute to soul food and its culture will leave you begging for a second helping." —Valerie Wilson Wesley, author of A Shimmer of Red, an Odessa Jones Mystery.

"A whodunit that shines with culture, food, and an interesting murder, or two! Savvy Summer and the Sweet Potato Crimes introduces characters readers will love spending time with, a fun tale of mystery, delicious food descriptions and recipes. Cozy mystery enthusiasts will enjoy this first in series." —Abby Collette, author of A Deadly Inside Scoop

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes offers the reader an intimate look into the world of Chicago soul food, plus a fun mystery. Sit back and enjoy but beware the powerful pangs of hunger Sapphire can create. And remember it’s a sin to die before you finish your sweet potato pie.” —Carolyn Haines, USA Today bestselling author

"Jackson-Opoku’s seasoned Sapphire Summers transforms the world and conventions of the mystery novel into allegory of Black women's power to balance the scales tipped by race and class. But for paying homage to African American soul food and Chicago's one-of-a-kind Pan-African population along the way to justice for a senseless inner-city murder, Jackson-Opoku stands alone and may have just begun a new genre for others to follow her into." —Kalisha Buckhanon, critically acclaimed author of Speaking of Summer and Upstate

"
A homespun traditional mystery with tons of Chicago culture and great soul food recipes." —Kallie E. Benjamin, author of the Bailey the Bloodhound mysteries.

“Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
is a very modern take on the traditional cozies I loved as a child, complete with a memorable cast of characters and a shocking ending I definitely didn’t see coming. I’m looking forward to more adventures – and recipes – in this mouth watering new series.” —Kellye Garrett, award winning author of Missing White Woman

"Dead guy at table 2! Was owner Savvy Summers' vegan sweet potato pie to blame? Child, hush your mouth! What a fun read! And set in Chicago, too! Jackson-Opoku has given us wonderful characters we can root for. Two whisks up for Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes." —Tracy Clark, author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series and the Det. Harriet Foster series

"Jackson-Opoku cooks up a delightful tale featuring strong-minded Savvy Summers in the lead; the twisty mystery is sweetened with delicious recipes and witty sayings." —Jennifer J. Chow, Agatha Award-nominated author

"Is a cozy mystery allowed to be this wild? Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes is soul food for cozy readers who carry hot sauce in their bags." —Lori Rader-Day, award-winning author of Wreck Your Heart