Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White
About Recipe for Murder
Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting - Pine Cove, a fictional version of Idyllwild, tiny town on top of a Southern California mountain
Publisher : Wild Rose Press
Publication date : June 17, 2026
Print length : 328 pages
Paperback ISBN-10 : 1509265759
ISBN-13 : 978-1509265756
Digital ISBN-13 : 978-1509265763
ASIN : B0GTRJ24MV
Mel O'Rourke traded her LAPD badge for the quiet life, running a bed-and-breakfast in tiny, quirky Pine Cove.
But when Jackson Thibodeaux, the charming café owner who broke her heart, stumbles back into town, her tranquil second act is toast. While attending a culinary academy in New Orleans, Jackson found the body of a classmate. The police rule it a suicide, but Mel’s instincts—and Jackson’s near miss with a bullet—scream murder. Between a cooking school full of shady suspects, a reformed cat burglar for a sidekick, and a complicated love triangle involving the deputy sheriff, Mel has her hands full.
Perfect for fans of the sweetness of Jenn McKinlay and the snark of Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan.
About 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.
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 screenwriting at UCLA Extension—including the fine art of script coverage and story analysis.
When she’s not plotting her next murder (fictional, we promise), she can be found in her garden, on a hiking trail, cheering for the LA Kings, or field-testing craft cocktails in the name of research.INTERVIEW
1.
When did you first
realize you wanted to be a writer?
A
lifelong avid reader and TV viewer, I created episodes of my favorite TV shows (co-starring
me, of course 😆) when I was six or seven.
So roughly a thousand years ago? In college, I was initially a parks and rec
major until I realized it was a TV show about park rangers that I really liked,
not the actual job itself. Writing scripts for movies soon followed and later I
wrote a pilot for a sit com. Eventually, I figured out the chances of anyone
seeing those projects were slim to none, but if I wrote books, nobody could
stop me from publishing.
2.
How long does it take
you to write a book?
Writing
the book is usually a pretty fast process, it’s the RE-writing that takes
forever! But seriously, it depends on
what else is going on. I still work at several jobs to pay the rent, as well as
currently co-writing a hockey romance series, so that can slow things down a
bit. It probably took a year to write “Framed for Murder” but because I was
dividing my time, “Recipe for Murder” took about two years.
3.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
Typically,
I write first thing in the morning. I
shoot for that to be around 5:30 but these days it’s closer to 6 am. I’ll write
for about an hour, do some yoga, doom scroll on YouTube and by 9 I’m focused on
my other jobs. If time allows, I prefer to edit in the late afternoon.
4.
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
I’m
not sure if this is all that interesting, but I tend to plot out the book in
general terms. Once I start writing, my first pass is loose, like, “Gregg tells
Mel to stand down and mind her own business. She makes a rude reply” to get the
gist of the scene down. The next pass I’ll be more specific with actual lines
of dialogue and descriptions.
5.
How do books get
published?
The
good news and the bad news is that there’s no longer one path to getting
published. I love working with a small, indie publisher like The Wild Rose
Press because they give new authors a chance at least. I’ve self-published
books as well that don’t fit their brand, and there’s an argument to be made
for the autonomy it gives writers. But I would never be comfortable getting
anything published without my beta readers who tell me when I’m cheating, and a
good editor to keep me in line.
6.
Where do you get your
information or ideas for your books?
It
sounds trite, but the ideas for all my books have been born from places I’ve
visited or things that have happened to me or people I knew. For instance, the idea for the “Keeper
Chronicles” came from a visit to the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, CA.
Obviously I don’t know any archangels personally, but the somewhat contentious
but heartfelt relationships between the siblings are more or less inspired by
my own family. Gabriel’s abject fear of tight spaces? Same here. Research is
one of my favorite things and the historic information about the tunnels under
the Inn and the local myths of monsters were all easy to find. For the cozy
mysteries, let’s just hope the police never have cause to look at my search
history and the dozens of searches for things like “how do you stab someone to
puncture a lung but not kill them?”.
7.
When did you write your
first book and how old were you?
My
first novel was finished probably 20 years when I was (mumble mumble mumble -
age is just a number, right?) but I kept it safely tucked away in my computer
until my editor at The Wild Rose Press convinced me to set it free in 2020. My
first PUBLISHED book was also in 2020, a novella I’d written in about 4 months.
8.
What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
Reading
and listening to books is up at the top of the list. Quilting is also a big
one, along with tending to my little urban container gardens. And unfortunately,
I have in the past few years become a huge LA Kings hockey fan, a pastime that
is not without its fair share of heartache😅
9.
What does your family
think of your writing?
This
is going to sound bad, but they honestly could not care less. I have two nieces
(both grown-ups with kids of their own) who have read my books. The rest of my
family are non-readers. Pretty sure I was switched at birth.
10.
What was one of the most
surprising things you learned in creating your books?
The
difference between and em-dash and an en-dash?
Probably
the most surprising thing was the way some characters end up defining
themselves. My cat burglar didn’t even rate a name in the Pine Cove novella,
but Poppy Phillips would not be ignored. She became a main character in “Framed
for Murder” and remains in the series as Mel’s nemesis-turned-best friend. The
same thing happened in “Cause for Elimination”. Even in the hockey romances,
there are characters who start as just one thing in one character’s book, but
when they get their own,they turn out to be much more complex than we knew.
Matthew Holt starts off as a complete a-hole in “Lincoln” but in his book we
see his softer side, including the playful ghost of his dead sister. Trust me, that was not in the original
character guide!
11.
How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite?
Solo,
I’ve written 2 novellas and 6 full length books. As part of a team, I’ve written 4.
Books
are kind of like children; you love them all equally. But I have a soft spot in
my heart for “Angel in the Window”. I put poor Gabriel through some hard things
and get to see the reluctantly loving side of his brother, Lucifer as he comes
to his aid. And they get drunk together on a road trip so fun times!
12.
Do you have any
suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
I
teach story development at UCLA Extension and am a career advisor for people
looking for work, many of whom say what they really want to do is write. My biggest suggestion is just do it. Every
day. Even if it’s only 2 sentences. Even if it’s only 1. If you want to write,
write. No one can stop you.
To
get better, I’d give the same advice to novelists as I do scriptwriters. Read
good books and actively break down WHY you like them, WHY they work for
you. Read bad ones and do the same, look
for the reasons they aren’t hitting for you.
You can read a hundred books out there on how to write a book, but the
best way in my opinion is figure out what works in the books you love and
emulate it.
According
to urban myth, Raymond Chandler was working as an accountant when he taught
himself to write by copying stories by Erle Stanley Gardner by hand. By paying
that close of attention of characters and plot, he arguably surpassed his role
model.
13.
Do you hear from your
readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I
don’t hear from them often and I’d love to!
It always makes my day to read a review that says I made the reader
laugh or the book was a nice break at the end of a tough day. I’ll admit it,
the part I hate the most about being an author is the marketing/social media
aspect of it, so I don’t put out a lot of chances for interaction, but I’m
always up for a chat!
14.
Do you like to create
books for adults?
Very
much. My characters, like me, tend to swear too much for young ears.
I
will say, however, that I’ll listen to (almost) any book read by voice actor
Steve West/Shane East and because of that, I’ve discovered some interesting YA
books that I’m jealous of.
15.
What do you think makes
a good story?
Conflict. Any story that starts with a set up that has
an impossible resolution has me hooked.
That
said, my books tend to be a little softer on that approach. For instance, in “Cause for Elimination” you
don’t find out why any romance between my main characters is impossible until
you’ve gotten to see them fall in love.
“Recipe for Murder” starts off with two main characters who were a
couple in the last book at odds with each other. Their situation seems
difficult to overcome, but not impossible. While I like to read those hopeless
stories to see how they overcome their obstacles, like Captain Kirk, I don’t
believe in a no-win scenario!
16.
As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up?
I
can’t remember aspiring to be anything other than a storyteller. Like I said, I
went to college to be a park ranger until I realized it was really the show I
liked (thank you, Mark Harmon, for “240-Robert”!). As a small child, I thought
being a nurse would be cool, but that was more about the TV show “Julia” than
any love of medicine, and of course a cowboy after years of watching
“Bonanza”. Much as sometimes I wish I’d
dreamed of being an accountant or a data analyst, stable and normal weren’t
meant to be.
17.
What Would you like my
readers to know?
So,
so many things! White wine is better if
you leave it out of the fridge for 30 minutes while red wine is better if you
chill it for 30 minutes. Drinking out of
re-usable water bottles instead of single use ones is one easy step to make the
planet a better place. You’ll love “Welcome to Wrexham” even if you don’t watch
soccer because it’s about the people as much as the sport, but have Kleenex
handy, it gets me every time. It’s never too late to start over, unless that
light at the end of the tunnel really is an oncoming train then…
And
of course, all my books are available at your favorite on-line bookstore 😊
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