Recipe for Murder by Marla White
About Author Marla A. White…
Marla White kills people for a living — on paper, at least.
An award-winning mystery and suspense author with roots in Hollywood, Marla White made a striking debut with Cause for Elimination, earning recognition from Killer Nashville, the RONE Awards, Reader’s Favorite, and a second-place finish with the Orange County Romance Writers in Romantic Suspense.
Her Pine Cove cozy mystery series is loosely inspired by the small town of Idyllwild in the San Jacinto mountain range of Southern California. Told with humor and heart, the latest in the series, “Recipe for Murder,” was published in June.
Originally from Oklahoma, Marla carved her path through multiple states before landing in Los Angeles, where she built a career in television development and now teaches script coverage and story development at UCLA Extension.
When she’s not plotting her next murder (fictional, we promise), she can be found quilting, on a hiking trail, cheering for the LA Kings (#GKG), or field-testing craft cocktails in the name of research.
This is a spotlight on “Recipe for Murder” by Marla A. White
Recipe for Murder Blurb
What Readers can expect from Recipe for Murder
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An excerpt from Recipe for Murder…
In a dry shirt and jeans, her hair still a riot of damp waves, Mel hurried through the door into her apartment with a bundle of borrowed clothes that Liam had left behind. She halted abruptly at the sight of Gregg Marks, barefoot and shirtless, rubbing a towel through his short hair while studying her murder, er, case board. She wasn’t sure if she froze because he’d discovered the secret she’d risked his friendship over or because of his sculpted, muscular back, flawed by a few ugly scars. “Geez, did you get those from playing football?” She blurted out before thinking. He flinched at the sudden interruption, but turned to her with a gentle smile. “Nah, they’re— Never mind. Long story that doesn’t matter.” Nothing too weird about that answer. Why are all of her friends so secretive? “If you say so. Here,” she offered him, “I brought you some of Liam’s things to change into. Again, I’m so sorry about your uniform. I’ll get it dry-cleaned for you.” “Do not make me repeat the uniform is fine one more time.” His friendly warning fell a little flat though as he faced her and jerked his thumb at the corkboard. “How’s that promise to stay out of the murder investigation going?” She shoved the clothes into his chest before retreating across the room to her small kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Even in the summer, at this elevation, the temperatures were cooler than in L.A. and being soaked had her chilled to the bones. Or she could chalk it up to the depressing thought of how much that damn pipe would cost to fix. Gregg’s sneers should be the least of her concerns, but she dreaded them all the same. “Fine, you caught me. Go ahead, have your laugh.” Much to her surprise, no cutting remarks ensued. In fact, he was…nice? “Far from it. I mean, it’s melodramatic, but I like the way you laid out the suspects and motives.” Towel draped around his neck, he disappeared into her bathroom. The thunk of his duty belt, weighed down by his gun holster and handcuff case, followed by the wet slap of his pants hitting the floor, painted a mental picture she couldn’t erase. “Especially for a crime you definitely aren’t looking into. What’s with the cop badge though? Do you seriously suspect the police are covering something up?” Why did it give her the warm fuzzies that he was the only person who got what the drawing was supposed to mean? Blinking back more stupid tears, she stuffed the newspaper she’d grabbed from the great room into his leather cowboy boots to hasten drying. She’d thrown her own tennis shoes in the dryer along with her soaking wet clothes. “They aren’t high on my list of suspects, but we can’t rule them out. Either they’re somehow involved or incredibly bad at their jobs.”
