Savannah Blues: A Novel [Paperback]

Mary Kay Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2003

Landing a catch like Talmadge Evans III got Eloise "Weezie" Foley a jewel of a town house in Savannahs historic district. Divorcing Tat got her exited to the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite-fest with Tal's new fiancée, the elegant Caroline DeSantos.

An antiques picker, Weezie combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures when she's not dealing with her loopy relatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. But an unauthorized sneak preview at a sale lands Weezie smack in the middle of magnolia-scented murder, mayhem . . . and more. Dirty deals simmer all around her—just as her relationship with the hottest chef in town heats up and she finds out how delicious love can be the second time around.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This delightfully breezy, richly atmospheric debut by a former journalist who covered Savannah's infamous Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil murder trials fails to generate much suspense, but it derives its charm from an encyclopedic trove of lore about antiquities and dishy gossip, Southern style. Divorced from blue-blood architect Talmadge Evans III, but still living in a carriage house in the backyard of their restored mansion, Eloise "Weezie" Foley suffers the indignity of having her ex's sexy fianc‚e, Caroline DeSantos, living in the main house Weezie restored herself. As a "picker," Weezie earns her living foraging for discarded treasures in Dumpsters and at estate sales. When she discovers Caroline's corpse in a historic manor house, Weezie is the prime suspect in her murder. To compound her quandary, Weezie's attorney her closeted Uncle James, an ex-Catholic priest is having an illicit affair with a man from the DA's office. Factor in her on-again, off-again romance with old high school flame Daniel Stipanek, counterfeit antiques and her mom's alcoholism, and the plucky heroine has enough problems to drive at least three novels. Unfortunately, the suspense gets lost somewhere among the antiques and Weezie's attempts to consummate her romance with Daniel. But even a denouement that comes way too soon and a junk bin of distractions won't keep readers away. 8-city author tour. (Feb. 20)Forecasts: This appealing effort should do well enough on its own, but if booksellers and publicists play up the Midnight connection, it could soar.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Reeling from a divorce, Eloise "Weezie" Foley misses her lovingly decorated historic home a bit more than she misses her cheating ex-husband. Her passion is finding and selling antiques, and she struggles to collect enough inventory to turn her hobby into a full-fledged business. When she discovers a dead body while attempting to sneak early into an estate sale, things get complicated especially because the murdered woman is her ex-husband's latest girlfriend. Andrews moves the plot along with a multitude of quirky and entertaining secondary characters Weezie's alcoholic mother, an uncle who is a gay ex-priest, and an old boyfriend who is the chef at her best friend's pricey bistro. Facts about period furniture, linens, china, vintage clothing, magazines, and paintings blend seamlessly and enrich what might have been just another ho-hum, screwball romantic story. Despite a dismal book jacket, Andrews's debut novel should soon find an audience among readers who enjoy Jayne Ann Krentz or Olivia Goldsmith. A worthwhile purchase for public libraries. Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060519134
• ISBN-13: 978-0060519131
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (112 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Kay Andrews is the author of the New York Times bestselling Savannah Breeze and Blue Christmas (HarperCollins), as well as Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies and Savannah Blues, all HarperPerennial.

A former reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she wrote ten critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series, under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida (and a diplomate of the Maas Bros. Department Store School of Charm), she started her professional journalism career in Savannah, Georgia, where she covered the real-life murder trials which were the basis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

As a lifelong ""junker"" the author claims to know the location of every promising thrift store, flea market and junkpile in the southeastern United States, plus many parts of Ohio.

She has a B.A. in newspaper journalism from The University of Georgia (go Dawgs!), and is a frequent lecturer and writing teacher at workshops including Emory University, The University of Georgia's Harriet Austin Writer's Workshop, the Tennessee Mountain Writer's Workshop and the Antioch Writer's Workshop. Her mysteries have been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards.

Married for more than 31 years to her high school sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of 24-year-old Katie Abel and 20-year-old Andrew. After a three-year hiatus in Raleigh, NC, she and her husband recently moved back to their old neighborhood in Atlanta, where they live in a restored 1926 Craftsman bungalow.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely entertaining brain candy, February 18, 2003

By 

Patricia Tryon (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savannah Blues (Paperback)

What a fun book. Beginning with a brave (or is it brave-faced?) heroine who tarts up very effectively and wrapping up several subplots with snorting good justice all around, this book kept me turning its pages long after bedtime.

I hope Mary Kay Andrews isn't all written out after this book, because she blew tons of great lines and a lot of knowledge about Southern antiques. She introduces some interesting ideas about artifacts in Southern furnishings and shares just enough information about how reproductions, like certain women, can be tarted up to look almost authentic. It's enough to make a girl want to clutch her pocketbook real protectively the next time an Empire table seems to call her name!

Avoid this book, please, if you are easily offended, because you will find plenty of bait here. There's at least a couple of scarlet women, a "non-traditional" couple that is pretty much closeted, some less-than-totally-serious engagement with an older woman's alcoholism, and some send-ups of stereotypes that will send their marks whining for rebuttal.

I don't care. And if you are looking for a thoroughly entertaining romp outside the ordinary lives of most of us, neither should you. You'll enjoy the characters, their stories (including the big mystery at the book's center), and the writer's delicious descriptions and one-liners.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Picker, The Chef, and The Junior League, March 17, 2003

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Savannah Blues: A Novel (Paperback)

Edgar Best Novel nominee, Mary Kay Andrews (aka Kathy Hogan Trocheck) delivers the goods in this lighthearted novel of tidy murder, great cooking, and the down and dirty side of the antique business. Not only is "Savannah Blues" living breathing, Savannah, it's a given this story could happen nowhere else.

Our heroine, Weezie, wins the prize for most unusual occupation; she is a picker, a trade only known in the antique business. She "finds" items from kitsch to Empire sideboards and sells them to antique dealers. She hits the flea markets, yard and estate sales, and even does a little dumpster diving in the course of a business day. Weezie is a bad-luck divorcee. In the settlement she got the carriage house in the back yard and one-half of the closed garden while her ex got the lovingly restored (by Weezie) historic townhouse. To make her misery complete, the ex has installed the "other woman," the beauteous Susan, in the townhouse and even gave her Weezie's slot in the garage for her jazzy sports car.

Weezie is illegally "previewing" an estate sale at a run down plantation in the dead of night, opens a closet and out falls the body of her rival Susan. Weezie is the prime suspect, and her friends rally round: Uncle James, an in-the-closet gay lawyer who was formerly a priest, best friend BeBe (pronounced Bay Bay); Daniel, master chef and incipient lover; and Merijoy, rich, social, dedicated Preservationist and jaw-droppingly efficient young mother.

Even the smallest characters are quirky and unexpected. Weezie's highly proper mother starts her day with half-and-half (iced tea and Four Roses). Andrews' dialogue is dead-on Savannah-speak, and I kept thinking the characters from "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil" were going to join the fun at any moment. Weezie has to be the most nonchalant murder suspect in the annals of crime. She assumes (I presume) justice will prevail and goes about her business, obtaining an unusual antique cupboard and shooting herself in the foot in the romance department.

This is a romp and a character study; so much so that long stretches go by when no one even thinks about the murder mystery. Andrews pours on too much in the last quarter solving the murder and righting the wrongs to the point the reader is confused. I felt like I had been called in from recess to study for the final. All in all a delightful book. Andrews and Savannah can take a well-deserved curtsy.
-sweetmolly-... Reviewer

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a juicy read!, April 26, 2003

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Savannah Blues: A Novel (Paperback)

This book had me hooked from page one to the last page ~~ it's witty, quick and brash and at the same time, it is bittersweet. It's a wonderful Southern lit book ~~ and it's one of my favorites. This is the first time I have ever heard of Mary Kay Andrews and I am hooked.

Weezie Foley lands in the midst of a murder-scandal accidentally while looking for a bathroom at an estate sale ~~ and how she gets out of it is a hilarious tale in itself. Then revelations about family members, ex-husband, new boyfriend and friends spice up the entire book with their tales ~~ this book keeps you on its toes and never lets up till the last page is turned!

If you like mystery with a good dash of romance ~~ this book is for you. Not only is it fun ~~ it is hilarious in some places ~~ these Southerners have a great sarcasm and it shows. Nothing seems to stop them except extreme humidity ~~ and an icy gin and tonic can cure that. So grab that bottle of suntan lotion and head for the lake or the nearest shade and enjoy! Don't forget your iced tea ~~ this book will leave you with a hankering for a drink!

4-25-03