Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Calamity Café | 2016 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 2 | Silence of the Jams | 2017 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 3 | Honey-Baked Homicide | 2017 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 4 | Apples and Alibis | 2019 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 5 | Fruit Baskets and Holiday Caskets | 2020 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 6 | Truffles and Tragedy | 2021 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
| 7 | Cake and I Scream | 2023 | Gayle Trent | Buy |
The Down South Cafe Mystery series follows Amy Flowers, who inherits a cafe in a small Virginia town and finds that running a restaurant means dealing with more than difficult customers. The Calamity Cafe, the first book, sets the pattern: a murder, a cast of quirky locals, and Amy figuring out whodunit between breakfast rushes.
Published between 2016 and 2023, the seven-book series is one of Gayle Trent’s longest-running under her Gayle Leeson pen name. Each entry mixes Southern cooking details with small-town mystery in a comfortable, readable formula.