Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Item: Savvy Summers and the Po'boy Perils
Rating: 4
Author: BaronessMom

Posted July 30, 2026 by BaronessMom in #BookishRecipe, Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Savvy Summers and the Po'boy Perils

by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Series: Savvy Summers Mysteries #2
Series Rating:

Published by Minotaur Books on July 21, 2026
Setting: Chicago, Illinois
Genres: Cozy Culinary Mystery
Pages: 295
Format: Audible Audiobook, ebook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: the Publisher
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes

The next delectable mystery featuring quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, owner of a soul food café in Chicago.

Savvy has her work cut out when an old friend hires her to cater a company luncheon at a nearby office building on Chicago's South Side. Stepping out of her traditional soul food comfort zone, Savvy whips together a menu of Creole classics, with her own spin, of course—mini po’boys with assorted fillings, sunburst salad, and bread pudding using Great Aunt Essie’s famous buttermilk biscuits.

But when someone is found dead in the company’s conference room, Savvy’s culinary creations are suddenly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. While the focus should be on their delicious flavors and inventive techniques, Savvy’s beloved café instead becomes the center of a murder investigation once again.

Caught within a messy web of gossip, miscommunication, and fraught coworker relationships, Savvy will have to settle the confusion to clear her name. Somebody’s hiding something, and with the help of her trusty assistant manager, Penny Lopés, Savvy sets out uncover exactly who is to blame. With familiar faces turning up the heat on her investigation and her café still in hot water, will Savvy be able to save her reputation before it’s too late?

Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoka is witty and kept me guessing.

Will Savvy figure out what’s going on before someone else dies?

Savvy Summers

Our sleuth is Savvy Summers. She owns a soul food restaurant in Chicago. But she is still learning to make some of the dishes she wants to put on her menu. And between catering and her daily restaurant duties, she is a mom of adult children, and now she is also a sleuth. People in the neighborhood come to her for help with their problems. Savvy’s friend also helps her bounce ideas and pushes Savvy to help.

I like the way that Savvy is still good friends with her ex-husband. I really like her assistant, Penny. She is funny the way she always has a song or saying for what is going on.

The Mystery

In this installment, Savvy has been trying out Creole dishes. She gives a shrimp po’boy to a friend, and Penny gives that friend a bottle of really hot sauce. Then one of Dori’s coworkers eats the po’boy and dies. Now, Savvy is trying to find the culprit with the help of her neighborhood friends even though Dori is on her way to jail. There are some great characters introduced this time; lots of entertainers live in this area. But is one of them a murderer?

Four Stars

My rating for Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoka is four stars. I enjoy the characters and the setting, even though it is changing in the next story. I always learn something from Ms. Jackson-Opoka’s references and plot points. You can find those in Great-Aunt Essie’s Epithets. She is a master at hiding the important clues.

There are a few recipes included that are used in the storyline. Those recipes are Chicory Coffee, Goombay Smash Cocktail, Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad, Shrimp Po’boys, Madam Delphin’s Seafood Gumbo, Aunt Essie’s Mississippi Gumbo, Lemon-Glazed Blueberry Bickies, and Buttermilk Biscuit Bread Pudding.

Savvy Summers Mysteries

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoka.

Until the next time,

Baroness’ Book Trove is an Amazon affiliate, meaning that if you make a purchase, this blog receives a small percentage of the sale. Primarily, this helps offset the website’s costs and a few giveaways.

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.

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