Savannah Blues

In this first book of the series, we meet Weezie and BeBe, best friends. BeBe owns and runs a restaurant, Weezie is a “picker” who finds and deals in second-hand items, hoping someday to have her own shop. Waiting at night at the site of an estate sale, Weezie is desperate for a bathroom, and does the logical thing. She breaks into the estate, finding not only a bathroom, but also the very dead body of her ex-husband’s fiancée. She gets caught and arrested, but her Uncle James, a lawyer and ex-priest, is hard at work to clear her name. Set in Savannah, the heat and humidity practically seeps into the pages, even for those of us in the snowy northland. Weezie and BeBe are delightful characters, as is Daniel, Weezie’s new man in show more her life. Though the mystery of who killed Caroline is interesting, that storyline almost takes a backseat to the friendship between Weezie and BeBe, and Weezie’s growing fondness for Daniel. It’s a great southern story with all the right elements for an entertaining tale. show less

SAVANNAH BLUES by Mary Kay Andrews
Okay, yes, it is chick lit. BUT, it is GOOD chick lit. Andrews is my favorite author for when I am mad at the world (don’t ask) and I need a picker-upper. She gives me a good story with interesting characters, some local touches, a lot of romance, a bit of “southern” and good writing with a few laughs on the way to getting the bad guy and having a happy ending.
Weezie, the wronged wife and soon to be divorcee, has been consigned to the “coach house” while hubby lives with wife number two in the “big house”. Best friend, Bebe, comes to the rescue when Weezie is caught standing over the bloody body of wife number two. Bebe brings along the hunky chef of the best restaurant in town who tries show more to help with interesting results (he must have a great staff because he is rarely at said restaurant).
Lots of fun and skullduggery, a bit of antiquing and home repair, along with many twists and turns in the romance department make this a great read for a quarantine summer.
5 of 5 stars show less

Not quite a mystery, not quite chick lit, this book was a nice entertaining read, better written than most light mysteries. It fit my mood of the moment perfectly as it's a great escape from whatever might be going on around you. It would also be a good beach read. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Eloise (Weezie) Foley is officially divorced from her cheating ex-husband Tal Evans. Weezie has gained possession of the carriage house as part of her divorce settlement so is literally living at the bottom of the garden of her ex and his new fiancée, aka the other woman, Caroline De Santos. There is no love lost between the two women, and is Caroline’s unmistakable rapping at the front door as the book opens. Trying to earn an income Weezie turns to her passion of finding and selling antiques and finds her stock by foraging through discarded treasures and rubbish in garbage cans, garage sales and at estate sales to repair and resell. When she discovers that a huge estate sale is coming up with some quality stuff, Weezie wants to be show more first in line to view the goods so she and her friend BeBe sleep in the car out the front of the mansion to ensure first place. In the early hours of the morning Weezie needs to go to the bathroom, trouble is all the trees have cars parked under them so she breaks into the mansion and literally trips over the dead body of Caroline. Weezie is arrested for the murder.

SAVANNAH BLUES handles some very meaty topics in a lighthearted, but never trivialised manner, it is a nice light ‘summer beach’ read. Well written, I found it to be very funny in parts and entertaining for the balance. I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a quick mystery read that is not too heavy and has a touch of romance. I loved the quirky characters such as Uncle James, a closet gay and ex-Catholic priest now turned lawyer, his clients still want him to hear their confessions. Then there is flighty BeBe Weezie’s best friend and owner of pricey bistro, Weezie's alcoholic mother and long suffering and loyal father, and then there is Daniel an old flame from High School, a wonderful cook, good looking and interested in Weezie show less

I found this book very frustrating. The author is clearly a great writer -- everything about the antiquing, the houses, the South, danced off the page. The heroine's relationship with her best friend was great; her parents and her uncle, really well written. It was the interactions with the two main men in her life -- her ex-husband and her ex-but-now-potentially-current-beau -- were where I had the problem. With the potential love interest in particular, the reactions seemed almost entirely off. There wasn't any slow build; they either hated each other or were all over each other. Nothing in between. And although I could very much identify with the love interest's (Daniel) dislike of the ex-husband, Tal, (not to mention the mixed show more messages that the heroine, "Weezie," was sending in that regard), it seemed a bit over the top the way he reacted to her interactions with him. And the thing that he actually did have a right to react harshly to -- and did at first -- was completely disregarded in the end with no explanation as to why it was no longer a concern. It felt like the author wrote a great book about antiques and 'picking,' but then someone along the way said that she needed to make it a romance so she threw a few scenes in at various points along the way.

I wanted to really like this book -- and, I have to admit, that I did really like the antiquing etc. parts, so it wasn't a lost cause. And, yes, I do plan on reading other books this author has written. However, I'll definitely be going into them with different mindset: it's more about the background and not about the romance. show less

I’d read Savannah Breeze before picking up this book at the library. So I was already familiar with some of the characters, and it was fun to see them from a different angle.

Newly divorced Weezie Foley is putting up with a lot. Her ex-husband is living in their townhouse with his new fiancé while she’s living in the carriage house on the same property. This is the townhouse she’d put the money down on, rehabbed on her own and decorated to the showplace it had become. She’s a picker, meaning she goes to garage and estate sales with an eye towards resale, and she’s really good at both it as well as decorating. It doesn’t help that she finds the body of the woman she hates and since she’d threatened the woman . . . she’s show more up on murder charges. Unfortunately, her alcoholic mother is adding to her stress with her denial of her alcoholism and constant harassment of Weezie.

Add a couple of uncovered schemes involving an old house that’s about to be torn down when it should be considered the property of the historical society, a delicious chef, a best friend who likes to scheme, an ex-husband who wants her back and you’ve got a fun and funny chic-lit/mystery.

I can’t help but comparing it to Savannah Breeze. There are parts of this book I like better and aspects of the second book I thought were done better. I expected a level of danger in this book, and we do get it to some extent, but not from the direction I was expecting. The story is mostly told from the points of view of Weezie and her Uncle James, a lawyer who used to be a priest. One thing done really well is the quirky, although realistic characters, the real-life situations and the resulting emotions which run the spectrum.

I was somewhat disappointed in how one of the issues uncovered is handled, although it definitely works out good for the abused parties. We do learn something about the antiques business and pickers; the people who find the stuff for the dealers. And Daniel, the chef mentioned, is an interesting and steamy character.

An enjoyable tale. show less

I enjoy southern fiction and this was a fun, light easy summer read. A little romance with humor and mystery thrown in as well.