Sweet Pepper Hero by J. J. Cook - #review, #interview #giveaway

Old rivalries heat up in the fourth Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade mystery from the national bestselling author of In Hot Water.

Fire chief Stella Griffin has been put in charge of judging the annual recipe contest, but Eric—her resident ghost and true culinary genius—has vanished. Before she can track down his latest haunt, she’s called in to investigate a local moonshine distillery that was set ablaze, making her realize there’s more than pies and cakes cooking in Sweet Pepper.

As rumors of a revived whiskey war ignite, Stella turns to the town’s elders to help her find answers. The past might have some clues as to what has sparked the present fires. But when following a lead lands her in buried rubble, Stella realizes she must extinguish this case fast or she might be going down in flames.

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MY REVIEW

My, my, my.  Where does the time go?  It seems like the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade series 'just started' and here we are at the fourth installment!

The relationship between Stella and the towns former fire chief, Eric, is rather fascinating.  For one,
Eric is a ghost.As Sweet Pepper Hero opens, Eric has been missing for several months.  Trouble is, he has to stay within a certain amount of distance from his old badge, which had been in Stella's place ... and her house had been ransacked. and Hero was drugged.  Badge? Gone.  Ghost?  Within 50' of his old badge ... wherever that might be.

When Stella and some others who also knew the old chief investigate a tip as to where he might be - they find him...and 3 additional ghosts being help captive in someone's closet.  Trouble was the search and seizure was of iffy legality.  So until she can determine which families in town the ghosts are part of ... she has even more houseguests, who are not entirely welcome.

I do give Stella and Eric props for wanting to return the ghosts to their families, which in turn will benefit them with a quieter, more orderly cabin.  The flip side is, that the ghosts aren't any quieter when they get 'home', and several 'calls' have to be made to *ahem* assist with the move-ins.

On top of all that drama, several local moonshine stills blow up, mostly taking the houses with them...and LOTS of action for the volunteer firefighters.  (BTW, if you live in an area serviced by a volunteer fire department, give them your support.  We have an AWESOME group in the Dog Walk - seriously, that's the name - area and they responded promptly to the fire at my father-in-law's house earlier this year.  It's a scary thing to watch a house burn and know there is nothing you can do about it.)  And I agree with Stella - she works with a great bunch of folks.

As you may surmise from the cover, Hero is a dog that is being trained to assist in fire-fighting.  His mother is being trained as well, but Hero seems to be taking to the training better than his mom.  Hero is one of my top 5 cozy dogs.  He's got those great canine qualities of sensitivity and loyalty.  He was sad that Eric's ghost was 'not there' for a while, and went canine-crazy when he came home.

The 'big' villain was definitely a surprise.

But it is no surprise that Sweet Pepper Hero is engaging.  In addition to the ghost-nappings, whiskey wars, explosions and homicides (attempted or completed), there is a lot of the charm of a small town as well, notably of the 'neighbors helping neighbors' variety'.  If Sweet Pepper was an actual town in Tennessee (especially in the Nashville to Memphis corridor), I would so make a point of stopping there on trips to see the in-laws in Texas.

I expect a lot from books that I read.  As cozy mysteries comprise my favorite genre, I am even pickier about that category.  Sweet Pepper Hero is a wonderful addition to the "Lavene/Cook shelf' on my bookcase!

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Website * Facebook * Twitter

J. J. Cook is a pseudonym for a married couple who writes mysteries, mostly set in the South, with a touch of paranormal and romance.

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INTERVIEW!

LuAnn -  This is my first rodeo with the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mysteries.  Not that I won't go back and read the previous installments ('cause you know I will), but what do I need to know about the town or characters that happened before the start of Hero?

Jim - You shouldn’t have to read any of the other stories before you read Sweet Pepper Hero. All our stories should stand just the way they are. Berkley likes for the stories to make sense without reading any of the previous books.

LuAnn - My first adventure in Sweet Pepper actually came in Murder Fir Christmas.  Is the town modeled after a real-life location?  How do you come up with town names for your many books and series?

Jim - If you’ve read murder for Christmas, you will notice the characters from Sweet Pepper. They are the same in their own books. The town isn’t modeled after any town that I know of. They are just made up. The town of Sweet Pepper came from when we were thinking about the book. It is home of the hottest—sweetest peppers in the world. Christmas Tree Valley was named after the Christmas trees that it grows.

LuAnn - Do the events in Sweet Pepper Hero happen chronologically before those in Murder Fir Christmas?

Jim - No, the events in Sweet Pepper hero take place after Murder Fir Christmas.

LuAnn   -   What is in the future for Sweet Pepper and Christmas Tree Valley?

Jim - We intend to write more books in both series. I’m not as fast a writer as Joyce and I were together. It may take a little more time to write them than one every month.

LuAnn  - How does your family work together so well?  (I'm impressed!)

Jim - We each have our own jobs and are diligent about how we want to stories to look. All of us want the stories to be the best they can be.

LuAnn - If Stella is not too much of a workaholic, where would she like to go on vacation?

Jim - She usually goes to visit her family in Chicago. Her dad’s family is from there and that is where she grew up, so she has a lot of friends there.

LuAnn - What is your favorite beverage to write by?

Jim - I usually drink a decaf Irish Cream latte. It just tastes good to me and it doesn’t impair my analytical part of my brain.

LuAnn -  How did y'all get your start as authors?

Jim - Joyce was always a writer. She always had some sort of story brewing. When I read her work I was astounded at how well she could put her words together to make realistic characters and events happen. I started with her in about 1989 after we figured out our writing process. We have been refining our process ever since.

LuAnn - What is your favorite holiday?

Jim - My favorite holiday is Halloween. It incorporates all the genres that I love, mystery, science fiction, horror and romance. Plus you get to dress up as some character that you love.

LuAnn - I love how Peggy Lee and Steve from the "Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries" keep crossing over into other series.  How did you come up with that idea?

Jim - Crossover characters came about in a what if scenario. We thought it would be cool to show that all of our stories were based in the same world. In order to do that we had to place characters from other stories in the mysteries of other books. Our fans seem to like it and so do we plus it’s a lot of fun to see what they’re going to do in a different situation.

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GIVEAWAY!!!

Thanks to the author, publisher and tour organizer, each stop is authorized to have a drawing for one print copy of Sweet Pepper Hero (available in the US).  So tell me a little about your pets in the comments and I will pick one person's comment in a random next week on January 20!

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Click on the logo to go to the tour page, where you will find more reviews and interviews!  You can also apply to become a host for book tours while you are there!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours in exchange for my objective review.)