Earlier
this month Jeanne of the Bookblog of the Bristol Library started something
new with her Treadmill Books Reviews. These are books that she reads while on
the treadmill. Such books have to fit her criteria of “…. A book has to be
entertaining without being too demanding. If I’d rather walk than read, that is
not a good book. On the other hand, if the book is so enjoyable that I end up
walking extra steps just so I can read another chapter, then that is a fine
book indeed.”
Treadmill
Books: Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade series
by J.J. Cook
Firefighter Stella Griffin is a big city
girl—Chicago, to be specific—but after punching out her boyfriend for cheating
on her, she takes a leave of absence to set up a volunteer fire brigade in a
Smoky Mountain town. It’s been a tough but satisfying assignment,
and Stella plans to leave before long to return to Chicago. She’s a bit worried that the all-volunteer
department might have trouble staying together after she leaves. Businesswoman Tory Lambert is also concerned,
and is pushing for Stella to stay on as fire chief to give the department some
badly needed stability. Then comes a
fire call from Tory’s house, but by the time they get her out, she’s already
dead. The question is, was it an
accident—or murder?
Helping in her investigation is John Trump, a very
attractive cop, and Eric Gamlyn, the former fire chief.
Oh, and Eric died in the 70s.
J.J. Cook is one of the pseudonyms used by Jim and
Joyce Lavene, authors of the Retired Witches
series. A friend knew I liked the latter series, so she gave me the four
books in the Sweet Pepper series. I
liked the fact that Stella was a competent woman in a male-dominated
profession, even if the other trappings were pretty standard. (If I had a nickel for every cozy featuring a
woman on the rebound from a lousy relationship--!) The plot itself was rather
nifty, too. The Lavenes also avoided a
lot of the hillbilly stereotypes, thank goodness.
On the negative side, I found the setting a bit
problematical. I know it’s just me, but
I have trouble picturing East Tennessee as a hot pepper producer, at least on
the scale the book depicts. While most
people now like a dose of hot peppers, it’s not a staple of the local cuisine. I harbor suspicions that peppers were picked
because it made for a trendy ingredient in the recipes that accompany each
story instead of a real local item, such as ramps. (For the uninitiated, ramps are a sort of
wild onion or leek with a flavor between onion and garlic. A VERY pungent
flavor, I might add. Entire festivals
are built around eating ramps, but they are seasonal and not widely
available—so not likely to entice those who like to find new recipes in their
mysteries.)
My second part of the setting problem is while place
names are dropped (Little Pigeon River, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge), the huge
tourist attractions aren’t mentioned:
Dollywood, Ober Gatlinburg, the outlet malls. It seemed a curious omission, akin to writing
something set in Anaheim and never mentioning Disneyland. To have characters
discuss the economic impact of tourism and never mentioning the major draw just
seemed odd.
And if I wanted to get really picky, having Stella
drive down in a Harley and never mention riding the Dragon’s Tail just indicated
to me that they weren’t really familiar with the area. I may be totally wrong,
but that’s how it felt to me.
There’s another aspect of the series which confounds
me a little, but I’m reluctant to discuss it because it might constitute a spoiler.
Finally, there’s a great effort to avoid the word
“said” in favor of any other verbal reference (quipped, opined, considered,
rebuked, rebutted, refuted, commented, etc.)
There’s also a tendency to tell rather than show in order to speed
things up, but characterization suffers.
There are several disagreeable characters in the books but they’re one
dimensional villains whose only function is to thwart or threaten Stella.
I made it through the first book and most of the
second, before finding something else to read. I need to be distracted and
entertained as I trudge along on the treadmill, and these just didn’t do it for
me.
