Rating: 
Summary: Tasty southern treat
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: humorous regional mystery
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: humorous regional mystery
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Delightful reading
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful debut!
Review: 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 .
Rating: 
Summary: Off to a great start!
Review: I hope this is the first in a series because Avery Andrew and the citizens of Dacus make for fun reading. The plot is slightly perdictable but that could improve with practice. I look forward to many more visits with the caracters.
Rating:
Summary: Off to a great start!
Review: I hope this is the first in a series because Avery Andrew and the citizens of Dacus make for fun reading. The plot is slightly perdictable but that could improve with practice. I look forward to many more visits with the caracters.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but not hilarious
Review: I keep looking for cozy mysteries that make me laugh like the Stephanie Plue series does. This is the second book that I ordered based on reviews that it was laugh out loud funny. I didn't think so.
That said, this is a good story and Avery is a likable character. I'd enjoy getting to know her in future books.
Rating:
Summary: Janet Evanovich of the South
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: What book did Publisher's Weekly Read?
Review: Kinky sex scenes and S&M - I'm three pages from the end and I haven't run into any of that. Puh-leese!! This is a great little story with characters with a future (if you know what I mean). I'm still waiting for some sisters to fill the void left by Anne George and her fictional sisters - I think the aunts in this series have a chance of doing just that. Ms. Pickens: The aunts deserve their own book!!
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