Book 75, 2023

[chez_jae]

Playing with Fire by J.J. Cook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Stayed up a tad late last night to finish reading Playing with Fire, which is the second book in the "Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade" mystery series by JJ Cook. The main character is Stella Griffin, temporary(?) fire chief of Sweet Pepper, TN.

Stella has already stayed longer in Sweet Pepper than she originally intended to, but she feels it's her duty to find out what really happened to former fire chief Eric Gamlyn--the ghost who haunts the cabin Stella is living in. Since Eric's remains were found in the wall of the old fire house, Stella has been pressing for his grave to be exhumed. Who's buried there? The police chief, however, has been stonewalling her; he doesn't like that Stella is stepping on his toes. Just when Stella thinks she has a lead, the person who gave her some intel ends up murdered. As if that's not enough on her plate, her parents show up out of the blue, bringing her ex with them, in hopes of persuading her to return to her life in Chicago. Stella is being pulled in several different directions, but with the help of some local stalwarts, she just may make some headway on Eric's case, and finally make a decision on whether or not she'll leave Sweet Pepper.

There was a lot going on in this story. A lot. Putting it out there that one of my least favorite tropes is when a character's parents (typically the mother) try to manipulate that person, and when the manipulation has to do with the person's romantic life? Hell no! Stella handled her mother's interference with more grace than I would have. Characters were engaging, and the plot certainly held my attention. I still found several points to be vexing:
- Stella is a Mary Sue. Not her fault; I blame the authors. Her string of wannabe partners includes Eric (yes, the dead guy), Doug (her ex), Zane (the guy whom she's currently dating), John (the police officer whom she tried to date but who can't get past her FAMILY history), and Marty (her step-something or other). Enough!
- There are too many assholes in Sweet Pepper, all of whom are men who seem to think they can push Stella around.
- Why did Jack kill Mace? That made no sense.
- If Walt had a phone with him, why not CALL for help instead of texting a photo of his injury?
- Who ran out of the silo? Ricky Sr said he couldn't get back inside to check on Shu, so how then did he run out the front?
- If Shu killed Eric, who put him up to it?
- Why were Ricky Sr and Mace still scared, 40 years later?
- If Ricky Sr was 18 when Eric died, how were they BFFs? Eric would have almost been old enough to be Ricky Sr's father at that point.
- A minor, annoying plot point ended on a cliffhanger. WTF?

Favorite lines:
♦ "I always wished my dad would turn into an evil millionaire with a mansion."
♦ "Back then, if it looked like a duck and it quacked like a duck--we didn't investigate to see if it was a duck."
♦ "Aren't you worried they might all rise up with pitchforks and torches one day and drag you out of the mansion?"

I really enjoyed this story. Would have awarded it five stars, but I'm deducting one for the annoying bits.