First in a new cozy mystery series featuring Southern cooking that is to die for.Aspiring chef and small-town Virginia native Amy Flowers is ready to open her own café offering old-fashioned Southern food. But her dream may go up in smoke when someone kills the competition…Tired of waiting tables at Lou’s Joint, Amy Flowers doesn’t just quit—she offers to buy the place from her bully of a boss, … from her bully of a boss, so she can finally open the café of her dreams. Amy can’t wait to serve the kind of Southern, down-home treats and dishes that her grandmother always loved to the kooky cast of regulars at the restaurant. She knows her comfort food will be the talk of the sweet, small town of Winter Garden, Virginia.
At first Lou Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal, she tells Amy to come see her. Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate, Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy will have to clear her name by serving up the real killer—and with Lou Lou’s stack of enemies, that’s a tall order.
Includes delicious Southern recipes!
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Amy Flowers wishes to open her own café and stop waitressing for Lou Lou Holman, her disagreeable boss. She even offers to buy Lou’s Joint, but Lou Lou flatly refuses. Lou Lou’s son thinks he can get his mom to agree to the sale and arranges a meeting with her and Amy. Amy is then thrown into turmoil when, having arrived first to the meeting, she finds Lou Lou dead in her office. Amy feels duty-bound to solve this case because she is the prime suspect, having been the one who discovered the murder.
Amy is an engaging heroine and someone you want to root for to succeed. I also found it refreshing that she is NOT (yet, at least) dating the cop investigating the case, so there was no dancing around and justifying to herself/the reader that she hadn’t lied to her boyfriend about inserting herself into HIS murder investigation. That was quite the welcome change of pace. And I wouldn’t hold it against Amy if she does start dating Deputy Hall in the future. Everyone deserves a little romance in their lives.
Amy’s friends and family also add flavour to their town. Homer is touching in his sincerity and Aunt Bess is a card! I loved her Pinterest boards. I am not a Pinterest user myself but I can certainly relate to seeing beautiful and yummy-looking recipes on TV or online and know that I’ll only realistically make a fraction of them.
And speaking of recipes, this book includes them, as well. I am eager to try most of them, especially the 7-Up Cake. I only wish there had been the recipes for the lemon pie and the meringue to go on it.
All in all, a great kick-off to new cozy series, one I know I will be eager to revisit.
The Calamity Cafe is the beginning of a fun, fast-paced cozy mystery series. When waitress Amy Flowers discovers the body of her boss Lou Lou, she quickly becomes the prime suspect in her murder. But the real problem is… there are plenty of reasons for Lou’s demise and a long list of people who wanted her dead. As Amy races to clear her name and buy the cafe she always wanted, you’ll meet an eccentric cast of characters, Amy’s sweet dog Rory, Princess Eloise (yes, I said princess), Aunt Bess and her highly entertaining Pinterest board, heartthrob Ryan, and all the rest of the folks from Winter Garden. With some southern recipes that will leave you salivating for book #2. I enjoyed not only this book but the next two in the series.
Amy Flowers is ready to follow her dream of opening her own cafe, and she’s hoping to do it by buying the local greasy spoon. However, Lou Lou, the owner, is not at all interested in selling. Amy stops by the cafe late one night and finds Lou Lou dead in her office. Naturally, Amy knows she has a good motive. Can she clear her name?
This is a fun start to a new series. The book focuses a bit on Amy starting her café early on, but the mystery begins to be the focus as we gear up toward the logical climax. Some of the characters could have been stronger, but I still came to care for them before the book ended, and I look forward to getting to know them better as the series progresses.