April 26th, 2024
Home | Log in!

Fresh Pick
THE WARTIME BOOK CLUB
THE WARTIME BOOK CLUB

New Books This Week

Fresh Fiction Box

Video Book Club

Latest Articles


April's Affections and Intrigues: Love and Mystery Bloom

Slideshow image


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Investigating a conspiracy really wasn't on Nikki's very long to-do list.


slideshow image
Escape to the Scottish Highlands in this enemies to lovers romance!


slideshow image
It�s not the heat�it�s the pixie dust.


slideshow image
They have a perfect partnership�
But an attempt on her life changes everything.


slideshow image
Jealousy, Love, and Murder: The Ancient Games Turn Deadly


slideshow image
Secret Identity, Small Town Romance
Available 4.15.24


The Calamity Cafe

The Calamity Cafe, June 2016
Down South Cafe #1
by Gayle Leeson

NAL
Featuring: Amy Flowers; Ryan Hall
304 pages
ISBN: 1101990783
EAN: 9781101990780
Kindle: B015DLUS8E
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Add to Wish List


Purchase



"New restaurant owner turns super sleuth!"

Fresh Fiction Review

The Calamity Cafe
Gayle Leeson

Reviewed by Viki Ferrell
Posted June 4, 2016

Mystery Cozy

Amy Flowers returns to Winter Garden, Virginia to care for her Nana after graduating from culinary school. She has always wanted to open her own café, and now that dream is close to becoming a reality. When her Nana passes away, she leaves Amy her entire estate, a sizable inheritance. Amy has enough money to either purchase a restaurant or build her own.

She has been working at Lou's Joint for the past year as a waitress and decides to ask Lou Lou, the owner, to sell the restaurant to her. Lou Lou is adamant about not being interested in selling. But later that day, Amy receives a call from Lou Lou's son Pete asking her to meet him and their lawyer at the café that evening. Pete says he has talked Lou Lou into selling. When Amy arrives, no one is there except Lou Lou, who is in her office with her head on her desk. When Amy sees the blood dripping off the desk and onto the floor, she calls the police.

Because Amy makes the call to the police, and since all the others who were supposed to be at the meeting have alibis for being late, Amy is the number one suspect. The police don't really believe Amy did it, but there is no one else right now to pin this murder on. Pete is very eager to sell the restaurant to Amy and closes the deal before his momma's funeral. Amy is excited about remodeling, but also wants to clear her name to give her new café a fighting chance. She goes into sleuth mode and does some investigating on her own. Amy opens several cans of worms and gets a lot of people riled up in the process.

CALAMITY CAFÉ is a delightful cozy mystery by Gayle Leeson that will leave you wanting more. After reading the first book in this new series, "Down South Café," you'll be drooling over the delicious southern dishes Amy is serving up. And Ms. Leeson includes some of those recipes at the end of the book. Amy is a strong main character, surrounded by diverse and quirky supporting characters. Amy finds so many possible suspects you don't have a clue who the murderer really is. She gives a good argument for each one. The pages of CALAMITY CAFÉ are filled with southern colloquialisms that I haven't heard in years. Winter Garden is a rural community steeped in tradition and folklore and a charming setting for this new series. A great summer read . . . can't wait for the next one!

Learn more about The Calamity Cafe

SUMMARY

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, 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!


What do you think about this review?

Comments

No comments posted.

Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!

 

 

 

© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy