Author Spotlight: Marla A. White

Marla White is an award-winning novelist who prefers killing people who annoy her on paper rather than in real life. Her first full-length mystery novel, “Cause for Elimination,” placed in several contests including Killer Nashville, The RONE Awards, The Reader’s Favorite, and finishing second in the Orange County Romance Writers for Romantic Suspense. Originally from Oklahoma, she lived in a lot of other states before settling down in Los Angeles to work in the television industry. She currently teaches at UCLA Extension and gives seminars about the art of script coverage. When she’s not working on the next book, she’s hiking, cheering on the LA Kings, or discovering new craft cocktails (to, you know, drown her sorrows over the Kings).

This is Author Marla A. White’s writing and publication journey in her own words…

A little bit about Author Marla A. White…

The short answer: I’ve been a published author for five years but writing nearly all my life.

My writing career has been an…odd journey. I started writing feature film scripts in college, my love of all things television serving as my north star. My first job out of college was working for the local TV station doing everything from filling in for tech crew member for the 6pm news to being the hand model for local ads to writing ad copy. I still remember the lyrical copy for Hub Cap Annies. I’m kidding, there’s nothing lyrical about old hub caps, but I tried. My first editorial note from the client? “Less words, more gorillas.”

I spent the next twenty plus years making my way to Los Angeles to become a development executive for television. I loved my job, working closely with writers on their scripts and pitches to sell them to networks. I would like to say I moved on to being a novelist because my muse was calling, but the cold hard truth was when my answer to “But what have you done for me lately?” wasn’t exciting enough, I had to figure out my next act, so to speak.

But the beauty of it all was that maybe my heart had moved on long before then. I’d written my first mystery, “Cause for Elimination” while still working in development, I just didn’t have the nerve to show it to anyone past the first few PitMad rejections. I continued writing a fantasy series as well but ditto with “The Keeper Chonicles.” I took Gandalf’s advice to Frodo to, “keep it secret, keep it safe” way too personally. Then in 2020, a friend told me about an open submission request from The Wild Rose Press for novellas of any genre featuring a holiday cookie. I made so many mistakes, didn’t read all the words about word count (Wait, 25,000? But I wrote 50,000 for NaNoWriMo!) and was past the deadline, so you could have knocked me over with a feather when they emailed to say they wanted to buy it. Even more so when my editor asked if I had anything else, they’d love to read more. With her expert help, “Cause” became an award-winner and I went on to write the first full-length Pine Cove Mystery, “Framed for Murder.”

Framed for Murder Blurb

After a life-changing injury, Mel O’Rourke trades in her badge for bed sheets, running a B & B in the quirky mountain town of Pine Cove. Her peaceful life is interrupted when an old frenemy, the notorious and charismatic cat burglar, Poppy Phillips, shows up on her doorstep, claiming she’s been framed for murder. While she’s broken plenty of laws, Mel knows she’d never kill anyone. Good thing she’s a better detective than she is a cook as she sets out to prove Poppy’s innocence.

The situation gets complicated, however, when the ruggedly handsome Deputy Sheriff Gregg Marks flirts with Mel, bringing him dangerously close to the criminal she’s hiding. And just when her friendship with café owner Jackson Thibodeaux blossoms into something more, he’s offered the opportunity of a lifetime in New Orleans. Should she encourage him to go, or ask him to stay? Who knew romance could be just as hard to solve as murder?

Marla’s favourite scene from Framed for Murder…

“Emmeline O’Rourke, I would never let you fall. But sometimes you have to slip a little to learn you’re going to be okay.”

Favorite Scene: There are so many I love. Grandma O’Rourke is a sassy hoot, anytime my main character, Mel, is talking to Deputy Marks the banter gets heated, etc. But this is the one that sets the murder investigation in motion:

Mel glanced over to make sure her brother continued to brood by the back door before stalking to Poppy and grabbing her by her right elbow, the arm she’d been favoring all morning. Her thoughtful frown shifted to a full-on grimace of pain.

“Oh, did that hurt?” she murmured without a shred of sympathy. “We need to talk.”

She propelled a complaining Poppy into her office and shut the door. Hopefully, if the phone rang, or a guest needed to check in, Liam could handle it.

“Oy, yes that bloody hurts. What’s wrong with you, mate?” she carped.

“You want to tell me about this, mate?” She shoved the paper at her. “And don’t even try to claim you don’t know anything about the robbery. Is that how you ‘pulled a muscle’? Murdering a man? Sit.” She pointed to the chair on the opposite side of the desk and picked up the phone. “Don’t bother running, because I’m pretty sure Deputy Sheriff Marks would love nothing more than chasing you down.”

“Wait,” the thief exclaimed as she lurched forward. Mel’s murderous intent must have shown on her face because the other woman eased back into the chair, holding her hands out in surrender. “Look, I’m truly sorry if you’re suffering ill effects from our frolic across the rooftops, but you have to admit, I did save your life. You owe me at least the courtesy of hearing my side of the story.

“Yes, I wasn’t completely forthright with you, but I need your help. Every cop between here and Las Vegas would love to pin something on me and here’s their big chance, all wrapped in a bow, but I didn’t do it. Simple case of wrong place at the wrong time, mate, I swear. Hear me out, and if you want to ring the coppers after, then I’ll go quiet as a lamb.”

She was so tempted to call Deputy Marks and be done with it. This woman had been at the inn for roughly two hours and had already lied to her. Mel didn’t need any more confusion and uncertainty in her life right now. She was in way over her head running a bed-and-breakfast as it was. Being a cop had been so much easier—all she had to do was chase bad guys, not worry about details like fresh flowers in the rooms. But she trusted her instincts and inexplicably, every one of them screamed the thief was telling the truth. She laid the phone back in its cradle.

“All right, I’m listening.”

Inspiration to start writing…

For me, inspiration for my stories tends to come from places I visit and am intrigued by. “Cause” came about because I was at the time an avid horse person and was at the barn seven days a week. I listened to all the tales the other riders had from years of barn gossip and seeing some of the mildly comedic drama unfold in front of me. A lot of the details in that book are based on real people and places. Except for the murders, of course.

The same with the other books. “The Keeper Chronices” were inspired by a visit to the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, CA that had never been a mission at all. It made me think about what if a lot of things around us aren’t what they seem to be at all? The book that came out last year, “Framed for Murder” all started from a visit to a quirky lodge in the even quirkier town of Idyllwild, CA.

The glib answer for why I like to write mysteries is that it’s easier to get away with people who annoy you on paper than real life. It’s no accident the murder victim in “Bloodstains and Candy Canes” is a television development executive, after all. But the truth is I enjoy all the genres I write in (I dabble in hockey romance with a writing partner under a pen name). I’m drawn to writing about people facing obstacles and coming out on the other side a different person because of it. Whether it’s about a character having to start over, face their personal demons, or learn to let go of the past, I love getting inside that thought process. And even jerks are eventually revealed to have a softer side. So much better than real life where jerks are usually just…jerks.