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!