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When Savvy Summers first opened Essie's soul food café, she never expected her customer-favourite sweet potato pie to become the centre of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womaniser, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie's reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area.Even as the police deem Grandy’s death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself - and her beloved café - in the middle of an entire city’s worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager, Penny Lopés, take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy.But with a slimy investor harassing her to sell her name and business, customers avoiding her sweet potato pie like the plague, and her police sergeant ex-husband suddenly back in the picture, will Savvy be able to clear the café’s name and solve Grandy’s murder before it all falls apart?After all, while Savvy always said her sweet potato pie was to die for, she never meant literally.

This astonishing novel takes us on a journey along the river of one family''s history, carving a course across two centuries and three continents, from ancient Africa into today''s America. Here, through the lives of Mother Africa''s many daughters, we come to understand the real meaning of roots: the captive Proud Mary, who has been savagely punished for refusing to relinquish her child to slavery; Earlene, who witnesses her father''s murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan; Big Momma, a modern-day matriarch who can make a woman of a girl; proud and sassy Cinnamon Brown, whose wild abandon hides a bitter loss; and smart, ambitious Alma, who is torn between the love of a man and the song of her soul.In The River Where Blood Is Born, the seen and unseen worlds are seamlessly joined--the spirit realms where the great river goddess and ancestor mothers watch over the lives of their descendants, both the living and those not yet born. Stringing beads of destiny, they work to lead one daughter back to her source. But what must Alma sacrifice to honor the River Mother''s call?From the Trade Paperback edition.

A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café. When Savvy Summers first opened Essie’s Place, she never expected her customer-favourite sweet potato pie to become the centre of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the seventy-five year-old neighbourhood womaniser, drops dead at Table Two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie’s reputation for the finest soul food on Chicago’s South Side. Even as the police deem Grandy’s death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself—and her beloved café—in the middle of an entire city’s worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager, Penny Lopés, take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy. But with a slimy investor harassing her to sell her name and business, customers avoiding her sweet potato pie like the plague, and her police sergeant ex-husband suddenly back in the picture, will Savvy be able to clear the café’s name and solve Grandy’s murder before it all falls apart? While Savvy always said her sweet potato pie was to die for, she never meant literally.

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 flavours and inventive techniques, Savvy’s beloved café instead becomes the centre 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?

The next delectable mystery featuring quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, owner of a soul food cafe 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 cafe 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 Lopes, Savvy sets out uncover exactly who is to blame. With familiar faces turning up the heat on her investigation and her cafe still in hot water, will Savvy be able to save her reputation before it's too late?