Customer Reviews

Southern Fried

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a regional cozy mystery, set in a small South Carolina town in the foothills of the Appalachians. The main character is Avery Andrews, recently fired from a big city law firm when she starts to attack her own witness (who is perjuring himself). She goes back home to Dacus and moves into her grandfather's summer cabin (not very warm in November). She ends up taking whatever work comes her way, which involves the low life charged with minor crimes and work that comes her way from people who know her and her family. One of her clients owns a factory under investigation by the EPA. In the meantime, a rusted out old car with a body in it brings to light a murder. Does it have anything to do with the EPA case?

This mystery has a lot of Southern small town characters, but with a little more depth than the stereotypes in so many "southern" mysteries. There was some light humor, but I wouldn't call it laugh out loud funny.

I thought this book shows a lot of talent but I didn't feel it was a five-star book -- although I think this author is capable of writing a five-star book. I actually think the book would have been improved if some of the attempts at humor had been taken out and the author had simply written a small town Southern mystery.

Avery Andrews, fired by her law firm after exploding at her own witness, returns home in disgrace. However, she soon gets involved in legal problems of the locals, which begin trivially but soon find her dealing with arson and murder. Avery deals with a colorful cast of characters, most of whom date back to her own high school days, as she solves her legal cases and realizes she just be stumbling onto a second, unexpected career.

I gave this book five stars because it delivers just what's promised: a small-town regional cozy. If you liked the Maggody series, you'll probably like Southern Fried, although Maggody's characters are so broad they come close to parody. Here they're just this side of southern plausible.

As other reviewers noted, Southern Fried is remarkably professional for a first novel. Dialogue is crisp and believable. Pickens maintains a brisk pace. Transitions are smooth and settings described economically.

As a career consultant, I have to say that I did raise an eyebrow about the heroine's past and future. The only lines that didn't ring true were Avery's musings over being unemployable. It's hard to find a more marketable field than law. Avery was fired but not disbarred. She could do free lance legal research or hang out her shingle anywhere she could pass the bar exam. She could teach business law.

But that's a mere quibble, and Avery's fiery exit from her law firm seems to fit the mood of the book. I hope to read more from this author .

After flipping out during a trial when her own witness was lying to help her case, lawyer Avery Andrews is jobless and back home in small town South Carolina. There she finds a number of cases including possible environmental polution, a man who admits to murder to be with her, a husband suspected in the long-ago death of his wife, and a woman who wants to sue a historian over his unflattering portrayal of a civil war spy. It isn't want Avery went to law school to do, expecially when the one client with money's wife accuses her of ruining his life and fires her.

Avery pushes after most of the cases (although she does her best to avoid the civil war lawsuit), but bad things seem to keep happening--the dead body in the lake, arson at the furniture factory, the EPA searching for a toxic waste dump, and poor lovelorn Donlee Griggs coming up with another attention-attracting device involving death or bodily harm.

In any small town, especially in small southern towns, gossip and long-remembered affairs and misbehaving play a role. The grapevine becomes a central source of clues and red herrings as Avery continues to look into building a legal practice in Dacus, South Carolina--the town she left when she went away to college and never even considered returning to until now.

Author Cathy Pickens offers up a charming and funny treat in SOUTHERN FRIED. If you enjoy a combination of humor, wacky anecdotes, and 'cozy' mystery solving, FRIED will definitely please your palate.

Attorney Avery Andrews worked for a large influential law firm in the low country of South Carolina until one day she snapped while questioning her own witness on the stand. The two got into a shouting match, the judge called a mistrial, and the firm settled out of court. Naturally Avery is fired so she returns to her hometown of Dacus in the hill country to figure out what she is going to do. She temporarily works out of the office of the town's only lawyers, picking up cases that nobody else wants or those the court assigns.

The town's biggest employer Garnet Mills hires Avery to handle environmental inspections. She quickly picks up that they are looking for something specific and asks the inspector to come back with a warrant which he does. They are looking for illegally dumped hazardous waste but before they can get very far in their investigation, someone torches the factory and tries to burn the accounting books. A dead body is found in the wreckage and Avery loses her best paying client. She works on her own time trying to figure out who was behind the arson, never realizing that her actions will lead to an unsolved twenty year old homicide.

This humorous regional mystery won the Malice Domestic Award for First Novel and it is easy to read why. The eccentric southern small town characters are believable while the pace is fast and the transitions smooth. Avery finds herself in some bizarre situations thanks to her unusual clients but she perseveres in spite of many setbacks. She is a very likable heroine and readers will eagerly await the next book in this refreshingly original series.

Harriet Klausner

Avery Andrews has recently returned to Dacus, SC, after working in a large law firm in Columbia, SC. She was fired, so she's trying to decide what to do next. In the meantime she's living in the family cabin and doing some legal work in town.

Her client, Donlee Griggs, is accused of murder. While they're dragging the lake for his victim's body, they find a car with a skeleton in it. This has nothing to do with the crime he is accused of. Soon Avery realizes that Donlee has told everyone he is in love with her and makes many spectacular suicide attempts to get her attention.

She is hired by Harrison Garnett, owner of Garnett Mills a local furniture plant, related to environmental concerns. Not long after the environmental investigator arrives in town to check out the plant, there is a fire at the plant destroying records. Now the environmental investigator is back with the feds along. Avery wonders what they're after.

Her other client is Melvin Bertram. He'd left town amidst scandal years ago when his wife went missing. He is back visiting his brother for the holidays. The car found in the lake was his wife's, and he fears the skeleton was her, too. He asks Avery's advice and has her accompany him for questioning.

Can Avery figure out who killed Melvin's wife and who torched Garnett Mills without putting herself in danger?

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading many more adventures with Avery. She is such a likeable character. Very down to earth, but a smart lawyer as well. I like the dilemma she's having with staying in her hometown or going to a bigger city again. It really gives us a glimpse of the character and not just her sleuthing skills.

I like all the quirky smalltown characters. They really add to the story.

I highly recommend this book.

What a delightful little mystery this is, with authentic dialogue, just the right amount of humor, vivid characters who come from all socioeconomic levels, and a very satisfying conclusion. But it did leave me concerned about Avery Andrews eating habits.

If you can only read one mystery novel this year, this is the one you should pick! It is clever, witty, well-crafted and a great ride. Before you know it, you will be getting out a map to find your way to Dacus to visit your new friends. You go Avery Andrews. We need at least 7 or 8 more of these books and QUICK!

Avery Andrews is a delightful subject, with a sharp eye for subtlety, a wry sense of humor, and a humility that makes her interesting and often made me chuckle. Her transition from big-city attorney to small-town law is classic, and captures the more subtle ways of a Southern town beautifully. Cathy Pickens writes with appropriate detail, descriptive scenes and characters that come alive. I have not been able to put this book down and can't wait until her next installment.

Wonderful picture story of a familiar place. The characters are people that I would like to know more about. If the next book is this good, I will have to have it when it first comes out.

I read Cathy Pickens' first two books a while ago, and they were one of the things that turned me off of reading for a while. I felt like I should go back and give them bad reviews. The main reason I read them is because the cover made it look like it would be a funny murder mystery. Luckily I didn't pay for either, but I still felt cheated after reading them. I thought they would be funny murder mysteries.

Let me say, if Ms. Pickens chooses to live an alternative lifestyle it's none of my business, and I'm not going to judge her for what she does with her life partner on her personal time, but her hate of men was a little offensive to me. She meets some guy at this factory and goes into a speech about how much she despises men, particularly white men. I don't need to read it. The story is just boring and uninteresting. It's not even funny. I can't remember laughing one time, or even being amused by any of the characters. One of the worst books I've ever read.