Bring out the barbecue grill – it’s National Barbecue Month! These books will inspire mouth-watering flavors.

Barbecue and Kansas City go hand-in-hand. Doug Worgul has written The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Technique of Kansas City Barbecue that explores everything BBQ in KC.

For some grilling tips and over 150 recipes, pick up Kansas City Barbeque: From the Kansas City Barbeque Inner Circle by Bill Venable, Rick Welch and Bruce Daniel.

Find out the secrets of the Kansas City Barbeque Society in Barbeque -- It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore: A Collection of Favorite Barbeque Recipes from the Society Members. This cookbook includes a history of the society as well as recipes for beef, pork, seafood, lamb, and much more.

For more tips and great recipes, pick up The BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig. With over 350 recipes, you’ll have plenty to choose from and the authors focus on the whole meal – not just the perfect steak.

What’s a vegetarian to do? Try The Vegetarian Grill: 200 Recipes for Inspired Flame-Kissed Meals by Andrea Chesman for inspiration on how you can enjoy the backyard grill along with all the carnivores.

Grand World Champion pitmaster Mike Mills writes about the world of barbecue in Peace, Love, and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue. More than just recipes, this book is also part memoir and travelogue.

Journalist Lolis Eric Elie and photographer Frank Stewart traveled the Midwest and the South to explore the barbecuing pastime and its place in American culture in Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country.

Finally, if you’re in the mood for a hard-boiled mystery, check out the novel Memphis Ribs by Gerald Duff. This book has plenty of barbecue flavor as it follows homicide detective J.W. Ragsdale investigating a string of murders.

Author

Angela Kille is a librarian at the Kansas City Public Library.