Title:	Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
	Author:	Sandra Jackson-Opoku
	Published:	July 29, 2025, Minotaur
	No. of Pages:	325
	Cover Price:	$28.00 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle, $17.71 Audio Book

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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.