SWEET DOUBLE-CROSS

SWEET DOUBLE-CROSS
Friday, May 22, 2026 by SALLY JO PITTS

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

SALLY JO PITTS

FICTION FRIDAY

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

A Love-at-First-Sight Novel

Sweet Double-Cross is the second book of the Sweet County Secrets series and is set on a fictional experimental island covered with kudzu. However, the kudzu plant is not fictional. It is an invasive plant species, and I learned a great deal about the vine while researching this book.

National Invasive Species Awareness Week occurs each February to inform the public about the threat of plants or animals introduced to an area where they are not native and cause harm. Kudzu—the green vine with broad leaves, growing in clusters of three—is a notorious invader and can be seen along southeastern United States roadsides, covering fences, telephone poles, trees, tractors, barns, and other buildings.

Three Interesting Facts about Kudzu:

Known as the plant that ate the South, this invasive species can grow more than a foot a day in the summer. Some even claim they can see it growing!

Kudzu smothers native plants, alters ecosystems, damages infrastructure, and is difficult to control.

The vine was introduced to the U.S. in 1876 from Japan and marketed as a way for farmers to stop soil erosion.

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the government provided jobs for people to plant kudzu all over the southeast. Today, the government provides jobs to get rid of kudzu!

In Sweet Double-Cross, a failed kudzu science experiment leads to evil plans that could threaten the world’s global food supply.

The main characters, Kirt and Trudy, are imaginary, but the spark for their love-at-first-sight meeting is based on the real-life romance of my friend in a Bible Study group. Her husband of fifty-five years proposed the night they met on a blind date!

I was hooked. I wanted to use a blind date proposal in the romantic suspense I was writing. I went to the source and interviewed my friend’s husband to learn what he was thinking. From there came the challenge. I had to create a believable scene for the first meeting and then capture the thoughts in my hero’s head when he meets the heroine. I was super gratified when my friend’s husband read the scene and said I nailed it.

Sweet Double Cross is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.

MORE ABOUT SWEET DOUBLE-CROSS

A scientific mission turns into a harrowing day of death and destruction.

Dedicated biologist Trudy Fields is passionate about her invasive plant species research in northwest Florida. When real estate developer Kirt Mayfair arrives in Sweet County to learn how to eradicate a kudzu infestation on the property he plans to purchase, Trudy is assigned to assist him. Their instant connection surprises them both—especially when Kirt impulsively proposes marriage.

But research and romantic interest take a deadly turn when a colleague of Trudy’s is shot and killed on the way to the isolated kudzu experimental island. On the run from a ruthless killer with precision sniper training, Trudy and Kirt must navigate treacherous terrain, dangerous wildlife, and a shocking conspiracy.

As bullets fly and bodies pile up, Trudy discovers Kirt is hiding his own secret. Amidst unexpected attraction and lethal betrayal, can the two survive this double-cross?

BUY LINK

https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Double-Cross-County-Secrets-Book-ebook/dp/B0F6MWW8RJ/

ABOUT SALLY JO PITTS

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Sally Jo Pitts is a former private investigator, licensed lie detection examiner, and retired high school guidance counselor with over twenty years of teaching experience in the field of family and consumer sciences. She combines her education and detective know-how to bring inspirational fiction to the page. Married to her late law enforcement husband for 48 years, she resides in the Panhandle of Florida. Connect with her at: https://sallyjopitts.com/author

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