Lunch with the Do-Nothings at the Tammy Dinette

by Brewer Killian B.

Overview

When Marcus Sumter, a short-order cook with dreams of being a chef, inherits a house in small town Marathon, Georgia, he leaves his big city life behind. Marcus intends to sell the house to finance his dreams, but a group of lovable busybodies called the Do-Nothings, a new job at the local diner, the Tammy Dinette, and a handsome mechanic named Hank cause Marcus to rethink his plans. Will he return to the life he knew or will he finally put down roots?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945053283
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/12/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Killian B. Brewer lives in his life-long home of Georgia with his partner and their dog. He has written poetry and short fiction since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. Brewer earned a BA in English and does not use this degree in his job in the banking industry. He has a love of greasy diner food that borders on obsessive.

Editorial Reviews

12/05/2016
Brewer’s second novel, “dedicated to Southern women of a certain age,” is all about these ladies, or at least as much about them as one jaded young man can perceive. Marcus Sumter is rootless and cynical, and getting into a car crash in the tiny town of Marathon, Ga., does nothing to improve his outlook. Though vaguely aware that his father hailed from the area, Marcus is in no way prepared to discover that his grandmother there has died and left him her house. He’s even more nonplussed by the parade of postmenopausal ladies this brings into his life: Delores, the menace who drove her car head-on into his; Helen, who sweeps him out of the hospital and into his inheritance; Inez, who thirsts for the gossip a gay neighbor will inspire; and a small host of other Do Nothings of the title. Though billed as romance, this is a classic comedy skit show, a series of set pieces strung along the simplest of plot lines. Hank, the town mechanic, does eventually wander into Marcus’s life, but the point of the story is laughter, and Brewer shows a wicked facility with the pratfalls and plain speaking of the steel magnolias at the book’s heart. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2016-12-19
Marcus Sumpter doesn't expect to find love or family in the tiny town of Marathon, Georgia, with a group of old Southern women known as the Do Nothings. But sometimes life delivers everything you've ever needed at just the right time.Marcus grew up in diners as the son of an itinerant waitress who bailed on jobs and boyfriends when heartbreak or her own restless spirit overtook her. Eventually, she abandoned Marcus at the side of the road after she sent him to fetch a pack of cigarettes for her, and he made a life for himself behind the grill until he met a wealthy, older man named Robert who controlled his life, going so far as to hide the registered letter from his grandmother's lawyer about her estate. After an argument in which Robert struck him, Marcus found the letter and ran away, winding up in Marathon. After his car is hit by an old lady, his grandmother's friends take him in as an honorary member of the Do Nothing Club. Quickly, he finds a job (slinging hash at the titular Tammy Dinette), a car, and an unexpectedly warm and inclusive community. When he meets a gorgeous mechanic named Hank, the chemistry between them sizzles. But when Robert staggers into town to find Marcus, he throws a wrench into their third date. It's up to Marcus to resolve things with Robert before he can have a future with Hank. Little does he know that the Do Nothings will do anything to bring their favorite mechanic and short order cook back together. The romance is there and it's a great (if slightly chaste) one, but the most successful love story here is the one between Marcus and the Do Nothings. Readers will be unexpectedly charmed by the quirky characters and clever dialogue in this heartwarming book.

Kirkus Reviews