The American Café

Book excerpt: 2012 WILLA Literary Award Winner: Best Original Softcover Fiction When Sadie Walela decides to pursue her childhood dream of owning a restaurant, she has no idea that murder will be on the menu. In this second book in the Sadie Walela series, set in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, Sadie discovers life as an entrepreneur is not as easy as she anticipated. On her first day, she is threatened by the town’s resident "crazy" woman and the former owner of the American Café turns up dead, engulfing the café—and Sadie herself—in a cloud of suspicion and unanswered questions. Drawing on the intuition and perseverance of her Cherokee ancestry, Sadie is determined to get some answers when an old friend unexpectedly turns up to lend a hand. A diverse cast of characters—including a mysterious Creek Indian, a corrupt police chief, an angry Marine home from Iraq, and the victim’s grieving sister and alcoholic niece—all come together to create a multilayered story of denial and deceit. While striving to untangle relationships and old family secrets, Sadie ends up unraveling far more than a murder.