Review & Giveaway - The Calamity Cafe

Review

THE CALAMITY CAFE by Gale Leeson

The First Down South Cafe Mystery

Amy Flowers has had enough of Lou Lou, her boss and the insufferable owner of Lou's Joint. Amy turns in her two week notice, along with an offer to buy the cafe but is flatly turned down. Amy is skeptical when Lou Lou's son calls to say that he got his mother to change his mind about selling, but decides to give it a shot. If Lou Lou won't sell, Amy will just build her own cafe from the ground up. Amy arrives only to find neither Pete nor the lawyer there, but she does find Lou Lou...dead. Plenty of people had reason to kill the irascible victim, from the 40 year old son who wanted to sell the cafe, and make his relationship with his girlfriend public, to the tenant whose repairs weren't fixed, and several in between. But Amy wants to make sure she's not really a viable suspect, even though she found the body and had a motive. So while she begins to convert Lou's Joint into the Down South Cafe, she also begins to look into the murder and keeping the hunky new deputy apprised is just an added benefit.

THE CALAMITY CAFE is an inviting welcome to a new series with unique characters and Southern charm. Homer, a regular at the Joint, has a new hero every day and Aunt Bess is continually adding new Pinterest boards. I'd be sure to follow her small-town crime board if she ever gets it going! An old mystery mingles with the new murder adding an extra layer of intrigue while Deputy Ryan Hall adds a touch of romance.

There's a lot going on in the first Down South Cafe mystery, but Gayle Leeson manages to tie everything together without it becoming too cumbersome. The multiple storylines are easy to follow and the book itself is a fast paced quick read. I enjoyed my first visit to Winter Garden, Virginia and look forward to my next.

Recipes Included.

FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book in the hopes I would review it.

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