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.From the Paperback edition.

Review"This book is a good read with the usual "m" words of any paranormal mystery: Murder, Mystery, Motives, Messy relationships, and unique to this book, a Motorcycle and accidents.  The ending is satisfying, but leaves the reader with a hint about the story in the next book of this series." - Meritorious Mysteries"This book was so difficult for me to put down, and even more difficult for me to have it end. I could have continued reading this series forever! Oh, to live in that same small town tucked away by the great Smoky Mountains, and to have neighbors such as these, would ensure that I would be a happy camper forever." Cozy Mystery Reviews"A well-crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the smoke clears.” —Kari Lee Townsend“Dark family secrets, a delicious mystery—and a ghost! What reader could ask for more?”—Casey Daniels, author of the Pepper Martin MysteriesFrom the AuthorSweet Pepper, TennesseeBy J.J. CookFrom the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade MysteriesThat Old Flame of MineSweet Pepper, Tennessee is the home of the hottest, sweetest peppers in the world. Hot peppers, particularly Tennessee Teardrop peppers, have been grown and packed here for a hundred years. The entire economy of this small town, population 5,026, depends on growing and packing the peppers that are shipped all over the world.At the entry to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the sun is hot and the mountains provide the shade to make the peppers their best. The soil is perfect.Every year, the town celebrates their heritage with the Sweet Pepper Festival. It's a three-day celebration of everything pepper. There are people dressed as peppers, pepper-eating contests and pepper recipe contests. Miss Sweet Pepper presides over the event with her court. The streets are cleared and thousands of tourists flock here on the first weekend in October.The event follows the hot summer of tubing and kayaking down the Little Pigeon River and happens before the cold winter months when skiers come to the area to try their skills against the mountains. Sweet Pepper is a town rich in tradition, which includes strong beliefs in the area's folklore. Tales of the ghosts that haunt the mountains aren't looked at as unreal. People here believe that Fire Chief Eric Gamlyn haunts the old cabin that he built, the one no one has ever been able to live in, until Chicago firefighter Stella Griffin came to town.

From the national bestselling author of the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mysteries comes a tasty prequel novella to J.J. Cook's new series featuring Zoe Chase, a Southern food truck chef who serves justice on the side. After quitting her job, the first thing Zoe Chase has to do is to drive out to the swamp to see her Uncle Saul. He still has the old Airstream trailer he once used for his own restaurant many years before, and Zoe is sure she can convince him to let her make a food truck out of it. After making the perilous journey from Mobile, Alabama into the backcountry, Zoe finds her uncle embroiled in a cook-off with his neighbor—with the life of Saul's albino alligator, Alabaster, in the balance. Once again, the gator has eaten chickens that didn't belong to her. So Saul and his neighbor will each prepare a meal for a church social, and if Saul wins, the gator lives. Now it's up to Zoe to prove herself in the kitchen and come up with something no one has...

Sweet Pepper, Tennessee, has the world's hottest and sweetest peppers—as well as a ghost that cooks and a fire chief who fights crime…SPARK OF INTERESTStella Griffin should be bubbling over with joy now that she's the full-time fire chief of Sweet Pepper, except trouble is brewing on her doorstep. An angry resident has purchased her cabin, and—with a bulldozer in tow—is ready to tear it down. But as Stella worries over the fate of her home and Eric, her ghostly roommate, there's soon an even greater cause for alarm.A suspicious house fire in the pricey Sunset Beach community at Sweet Pepper Lake claims the life of ex-state representative Barney Falk. The nature of the death has Stella feeling out of her depth, so she teams up with the state's arson investigator. Moving full steam ahead with the case, they must smoke out a killer before the firebug strikes again… INCLUDES RECIPES!  

Welcome to Sweet Pepper, Tennessee. Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, it’s home to the hottest and sweetest peppers in the world—as well as at least one ghost and a hotbed of secrets…GETTING WARMERFire Chief Stella Griffin is working to solve the mysterious death of her predecessor, Eric Gamlyn—who also haunts her cabin. Yet the more she learns, the more burning questions she must answer. Just as Stella thinks she has a lead from Deputy Chum, someone snuffs her hopes—and the lawman.Adding fuel to the fire, Stella’s parents soon arrive—with her ex-boyfriend—hoping to persuade her to return to Chicago. Now Stella is torn between the life she left behind and uncovering what happened to her ghostly friend. But she’d better think fast or more than her investigation could go up in flames… **

The national bestselling author of Fry Another Day serves up a third helping in the Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery series...It's Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, and food truck chef Zoe Chase is driven to distraction attending high-society soirees, feeding the partying masses, and getting the skinny on a Fat Tuesday murder...Two weeks of carnival celebrations has got Zoe running ragged. By day, she charms hungry tourists with authentic Southern cuisine. At night, she accompanies her father to one masquerade ball after another, hobnobbing with the high rollers of the secret cabal known as the Mistics of Time.But the fun turns frightening when Zoe stumbles across "Death's" dead body. Journalist Jordan Phillips attended the Mistics' latest bash in a traditional Death costume, and received a fatal bullet wound for the privilege. With more than three hundred masked suspects determined to remain anonymous, and the police covering up the facts...