Southern Fried

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 .

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.

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.

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!