Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Calamity Cafe: A Down South Café Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Calamity Cafe: A Down South Café Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Calamity Cafe: A Down South Café Mystery
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Calamity Cafe: A Down South Café Mystery

    Written by Gayle Leeson

    Narrated by Cassandra Morris

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Tired of waiting tables at Lou’s Joint, Amy Flowers doesn’t just quit—she offers to buy the place from her bully of a boss. Amy has dreamed of making the kind of Southern, down-home treats and dishes that her grandmother always loved to serve the kooky cast of regulars at the restaurant. At first Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal, she tells Amy to come see her.  Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate, Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy will have to clear her name by serving up the real killer—and with Lou’s stack of enemies, that’s a tall order.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9781520017037
    Unavailable
    The Calamity Cafe: A Down South Café Mystery

    Related to The Calamity Cafe

    Related audiobooks

    Cozy Mysteries For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Body To Die For

      Jul 15, 2021

      A Body To Die For
      4 min read

    • Article

      MORE THAN Friends

      Sep 27, 2020

      MORE THAN Friends
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Words

      Dec 21, 2021

      By Jo Browning Wroe Faber & Faber, £14.99 Jo Browning Wroe’s delicate, elegant debut will break your heart into pieces and then gently put it back together as hope, compassion and the power of community carefully repair the hurt. Talented singer an

      1 min read

    Reviews for The Calamity Cafe

    4.5/5

    8 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Amy Flowers lives in Winter Garden, Virginia and works at a diner, Lou Lou's Joint - and hates her job. She trained as a chef out of state but moved home when her grandmother became ill. When her Nana passed away, she left her some money. Now Amy wants to buy the Joint and open her dream café, but Lou Lou won't sell.That evening Amy receives a call from Lou Lou's son Pete, and he tells her he's convinced his mother to sell, and would she meet him at the diner, which she agrees to do. But when Amy arrives, the only person there is Lou Lou...and she's not going anywhere. She's dead, and when Amy can gather herself, she calls the police.Amy discovers she's a person of interest because she found the body, and even though Deputy Ryan Hall tells her he doesn't believe she's guilty, she still doesn't want it hanging over her head, so decides to do a little investigating of her own. But when she inadvertently gets a little too close to the truth, the killer gets a little too close to her...I did like this book. I didn't understand, though, why Amy would be so intent on finding the killer when Deputy Hall told her that she wasn't suspected of murder. She somehow had it in her head that she was going to be arrested, and hyperventilated at the thought of it, and this spurred her on to find a murderer. There was nothing pointing to her being guilty, and no one thought she was capable or even had a real reason, yet she was convinced in her mind that it was so.While Amy isn't stupid enough to walk into situations that will get her killed, she shares all of her findings with Deputy Hall - but he, in turn, doesn't share his information with her, which is exactly how it should be. He keeps his cards close to his chest, and isn't giving her anything she can run with, which is his way of keeping her safe.However, I did feel that she went to tears and panic a little too quickly; and that didn't ring true for someone who wanted to investigate the way she did. If she's going to be doing this, she needs to get her emotions under control.Her friends are also an interesting bunch: she works with Jackie, a lifelong friend, and Roger (also a lifelong friend) is doing the construction on her new restaurant, and both seem like they have their heads on straight. Homer is quite deep in his own way, with a new hero every day that he quotes every so often, and more to the point, his quotes fit right in with what's going on. A pretty decent bunch. The one I don't care for is the head of the Chamber of Commerce, who's angry he couldn't get the diner and raze it, but he wasn't in the story much and I sure hope he doesn't become the 'evil nemesis' who wants to make Amy miserable. Even Amy's mom and Aunt Bess are great; and I've taken a liking to Pete, who unfortunately goes from one bad situation to another.The only thing that seemed odd to me were the many characters who were left by their fathers at an early age; that much didn't seem realistic, and it bothered me a tad. I can't see that Amy and her friends would have been raised in single-parent households and still trusted men. It didn't ring true.I did find that the book was written well, and I thought the plot was interesting; and I felt that the story is put together nicely, with Amy following a trail to find out who hated Lou Lou enough to kill her, and there are a plethora of suspects she needs to sift through. The woman wasn't well-liked by anyone, treated her employees horribly, and doted on her son. So Amy does a lot of thinking that we are privy to, and eventually comes to a conclusion at the same time as the killer.When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, there's a bit of a climactic scene, but Amy doesn't lose her head, preferring to keep it right where it is, thank-you-very-much. And while it isn't at all a nail-biter, it's still done well, and I liked the way everything tied up together. This book is a quick and easy read with a pretty good ending. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Meh. I keep looking for a good mystery series. This was banal. A good first draft. Not worth reading the second in the series. But not terrible if you are just getting into reading mysteries.Reading the next review, I will point out that no doubt "autocorrect" has struck again! Lou Lou's son's name is Pete, not Phil.The subsequent review seems to think Amy had no business pla, budget, etc., but she told Roger she did.
    • 5/5
      The Down South Café Mystery series is off to a fantastic start! The author is Gayle Leeson, who also writes cozies under the pen names Gayle Trent and Amanda Lee. It was one of her earlier books that got me hooked on the cozy mystery genre, so I was excited to give THE CALAMITY CAFÉ a read.Amy Flowers is a budding chef with hopes of opening her own restaurant, but for now she's stuck waitressing for one of the meanest people in town. When Amy offers to buy the diner, her boss, Lou Lou, flat out refuses. Amy never dreamed that soon after, her ill-tempered boss would become the victim of killer.This book had all the elements that I love in a cozy. The crime took place early on, and the plot stayed focused on the investigation, while weaving in Amy's delicious Southern cooking and her pursuit of opening her own café. Lou Lou had many enemies, so figuring out whodunit wasn't easy. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next for Amy and the folks of Winter Garden, Virginia.Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review and rated it 4.5 out of 5 Stars.Dear Ms. Leeson …..you had me at cozy mystery including delicious Southern recipes. For those who know me, it’s no secret that I am both a bibliophile and a foodie, there is nothing I love more than sitting down with my kindle and gnoshing on a snack or meal, so when given the opportunity to read The Calamity Café, it was a no brainer. The first book in a new cozy mystery series is full of colorful characters, delicious food, a solid mystery and a light touch of romance. If you like cozy mysteries, especially those set in a small town in the South, then this is the book for you. Ms. Leeson does a great job introducing her primary character, Amy Flowers, a young woman trained to be a chef, who had come home to Winter Garden, Virginia to take care of her nana (grandmother) and has been waitressing at a local diner called Lou’s Joint. Owned by Lou-Lou, a bully, who smokes while she cooks, Lou’s joint is just the kind of restaurant that needs new ownership and when she inherits a sizable amount of money from her grandmother, Amy tries to buy it. Only Lou-Lou refuses to sell, at least until her son, talks her into it. When Amy arrives at the restaurant later that night to go over the sale and terms, she discovers Lou-Lou’s dead body and finds herself on the suspect list. I really liked Amy; she’s smart, funny and a generally nice person. I enjoyed watching her character develop and watching her develop her detective skills. The secondary characters are also colorful and well developed. I enjoyed getting to know Jackie, her cousin and best friend, who also works as a waitress at Lou’s Joint and Sarah, another close friend who works for the towns only attorney. We meet Roger, her oldest male friend, who also happens to be the contractor Amy hires to redesign and refurbish Lou’s joint after she purchases it from Lou-Lou’s only son Phil and renames it The Down South Cafe The list of possible suspects is more than a handful, apparently Lou-Lou never met a person she couldn’t offend, and it was fun watching Amy go through the list. The local sheriff’s office is investigating the case but the deputy, Ryan, doesn’t seem to mind letting Amy gather clues, which she then turns over to him. I found that a very interesting dynamic and different from most cozies where the police are pretty stringent about people staying out of their way. Ms. Leeson’s voice as an author is clear, easy to follow and enjoyable, something you would expect from an established writer. The story’s pace is good and there are plenty of twists and turns, especially when it comes to the multiple suspects and Lou-Lou’s family’s past, which keeps things interesting. There was no real graphic violence, though there is a bit of suspense near the end. Overall this is a very well written cozy and a great beginning for a new series.Will Amy discover who killed Lou-Lou and why? Will Amy’s remodel and renaming of Lou’s Joint work out? And will the developing romances between Jackie and Roger, and Amy and Deputy Ryan work out in the future? You’ll have to read The Calamity Café to find out, I enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next installment.
    • 5/5
      Amy Flowers is a trained chef working as a waitress in Winter Garden, Virginia, her hometown. The place where she works, Lou’s Joint, is pretty much a dive. The boss is Lou Lou, an obnoxious woman who works her employees hard and finds ways to cheat them of their tips. Lou Lou and her son Pete take turns running the grill and there’s no way Amy will ever get a chance to show her stuff. Unless she buys the place. Our heroine is fortunate to have an inheritance from her beloved grandmother, so she makes an offer that Lou Lou, of course, refuses. Then Lou Lou is murdered and Amy discovers the body. Police figure that Amy is a suspect, an unlikely one, but a suspect nonetheless. And Pete decides he wants to sell Lou’s Joint to Amy and start a new life as a long-distance trucker. As the diner is being re-done, and as police are doing their thing, Amy decides she needs to learn more about Lou Lou with an eye toward figuring out who would want to kill her. The Calamity Café is one of the most believable cozies I’ve read and I love Amy as a heroine. Amy is not reeling after a broken romance, and doesn’t go weak in the knees over a man or act like a foolish teenager in love. She doesn’t take un-necessary risks and shares what she learns with the cops. She’s a real grown-up, a woman who has plans for her life and pursues them. I think Gayle Leeson has set a solid foundation for a long-lived series. I’m keeping my fingers crossed she sells zillions of books so that can happen.
    • 4/5
      The Calamity Café by Gayle Leeson is the first book in A Down South Café Mystery series. Amy Flowers is ready to open her own café in Winter Garden, Virginia. She would love to buy Lou’s Joint where she has been working as a waitress for the last year (while taking care of her grandmother for the last year), but Lou Lou Holman does not wish to sell. Lou Lou’s son, Pete, though, would love for the restaurant to be sold (and get out from under his mother’s thumb). Amy could build her own place, but it would much easier to remodel an existing structure. Amy is surprised when she gets a call asking her to a meeting at the café to discuss the sale (Pete has been talking to his mom). Amy arrives at the café and no one answers. She goes back to the office and finds Lou Loud dead. Somehow, Amy ends up the prime suspect (just because she wanted to buy the place, had a disagreement with Lou Lou, and quit her job). If Amy wants to open her Down South Cafe, she will need to get her name off the suspect list (and hopefully solve the murder). The Calamity Café is not bad for a first book. With a little work, this could be a good series. The book has a good pace (which I liked) and I found the book easy to read. The characters need more development (of course), but they have potential. Amy cried a wee bit too much in this book (it got on my nerves). I liked that there were several suspects in the crime and is was interesting how it tied back to an eighty-year-old crime. I did wonder how Amy was planning on opening a café without a business plan, budget, etc. (they definitely help when opening a new business). I give The Calamity Café 3.5 out of 5 stars. I will be reading the next book in A Down South Café Mystery series.I received a complimentary copy of The Calamity Café in exchange for an honest evaluation of the book.